The music video for Ken Ishii’s “Space Invaders 2003” is a touching, behind-the-scenes look at a Space Invader family torn apart by war.

For mobile gamers in western Japan, a hearty seafood dinner awaits just a few key clicks away, thanks to a unique new cellphone fishing game that rewards successful players with home deliveries of fresh, real-world fish.

The game — called “Ippon Zuri” (which means “pole-and-line fishing”) — was created by FIT, a Fukuoka-based system development company who teamed up with a local seafood wholesaler. Game play is simple: players use the phone keys to cast bait to promising-looking fish in the game’s virtual waters, which include sea bream, crab, and other seasonal fish. When a fish takes the bait, the player is sent to a slot machine screen where, if luck prevails and 3 numbers line up appropriately, the virtual fish is hooked and reeled in. A message is then relayed to the wholesaler, who picks up the real-world equivalent from the local seafood market and delivers it, whole and raw, to the player’s doorstep.

FIT president Hiromi Fukuda suggests that Ippon Zuri is more enjoyable than other fishing games because it allows players to eat what they catch. The game (which seems rather like a fancy seafood ordering system) promises more entertainment than a mundane trip to the supermarket and more convenience than a fishing trip to the seaside, and it makes a great pick-me-up for hungry fishermen feeling down on their real-world luck.

The game is open to Fukuoka-area NTT DoCoMo users who register at the Ippon Zuri site and pre-pay for the games (1,000 yen for 3 games) using Edy electronic money.

[Source: Fuji Sankei]

On a small island near Tokyo, people armed with Nintendo DS portable game consoles are scouring the terrain in search of clues that will lead them to a secret treasure. The activity is part of a unique, virtual-meets-real-world game called “Treasure Quest: Enoshima - Treasure of the Dragon,” which was developed by Rush Japan, a Tokyo-based company that specializes in planning treasure hunts and tourism-related events.

The free game is open to Nintendo DS owners with the means to travel to Enoshima, a small island (4 kilometers in circumference) in the town of Fujisawa about 50 kilometers south of Tokyo. After picking up the free software, players are sent off to interact with their DS and move about the island in search of clues, which are obtained through both the physical environment and the game console. The game makes use of the DS’s wireless capabilities, and at certain key locations on the island where players obtain clues, the on-screen scenery matches that of the physical surroundings. Players can locate the treasure after obtaining all the pieces of the puzzle and putting them together to solve the mystery, which the developers claim is no easy task.

Rush Japan, who developed the game as an innovative way to stimulate tourism, hopes the Nintendo DS’s popularity with people old and young will attract a diverse group of players to the island. Their goal was to create a game that both the players and the locals would appreciate.

The treasure hunt is held from 10 AM to 4 PM every day until February 19, and reservations (required) are being accepted online through the Treasure Quest website. (The website and game are in Japanese.)

[Source: Shonan Keizai Shimbun]

A 16-year-old male gamer infatuated with the gothic dress worn by the fictional princess in an online role-playing game has been arrested for hacking into the game company’s servers and scamming a boatload of virtual money.

On January 24, Tokyo Metropolitan Police officers from the “Hi-Tech Crimes Control Center” arrested the high school student from Fukui, Japan and charged him with illegally accessing the website of Tokyo-based game company NEXON and stealing over 36 million yen ($325,000) worth of virtual currency used in the Mabinogi online role-playing game. The money can be used to purchase virtual items in the game, and it can be converted into real-world cash.

According to investigators, the suspect used software from an illegal website to obtain the ID and password of a former NEXON employee, which he used to access the company’s servers from his home computer last October. Once inside NEXON’s system, he registered a new ID and password and began filling his coffers with the in-game money.

While most of the loot went unused, the suspect allegedly converted 7 million points into about 600,000 yen ($5,500) worth of web money, which he used to purchase books and software.

The suspect has reportedly fessed up to the crime. “I originally wanted the dress worn by the princess,” he admitted, “but I just ended up racking up a bunch of game points.”

[Source: Nikkan Sports]

U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi is an interactive “mixed reality” humanoid robot that appears as a computer-animated character when viewed through a special head-mounted display. A virtual 3D avatar that moves in sync with the robot’s actions is mapped onto the machine’s green cloth skin (the skin functions as a green screen), and the sensor-equipped head-mounted display tracks the angle and position of the viewer’s head and constantly adjusts the angle at which the avatar is displayed. The result is an interactive virtual 3D character with a physical body that the viewer can literally reach out and touch.

Researcher Michihiko Shoji, formerly of NTT DoCoMo, helped create U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi as a tool for enhancing virtual reality simulations. He is now employed at the Yokohama National University Venture Business Laboratory, where he continues to work on improving the virtual humanoid. The system, which currently requires a lot of bulky and expensive equipment to run, will likely see its first real-world applications in arcade-style video games. However, Shoji also sees a potential market for personal virtual humanoids, and is looking at ways to reduce the size and cost to make it suitable for general household use.

Here is a video of U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi.

The virtual humanoid will be on display at ASIAGRAPH 2007 in Akihabara (Tokyo) from October 12 to 14.

[Source: Robot Watch]

While recent developments in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology have given humans the power to mentally control computers, nobody has used the technology in conjunction with the Second Life online virtual world — until now.

A research team led by professor Jun’ichi Ushiba of the Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory has developed a BCI system that lets the user walk an avatar through the streets of Second Life while relying solely on the power of thought. To control the avatar on screen, the user simply thinks about moving various body parts — the avatar walks forward when the user thinks about moving his/her own feet, and it turns right and left when the user imagines moving his/her right and left arms.

The system consists of a headpiece equipped with electrodes that monitor activity in three areas of the motor cortex (the region of the brain involved in controlling the movement of the arms and legs). An EEG machine reads and graphs the data and relays it to the BCI, where a brain wave analysis algorithm interprets the user’s imagined movements. A keyboard emulator then converts this data into a signal and relays it to Second Life, causing the on-screen avatar to move. In this way, the user can exercise real-time control over the avatar in the 3D virtual world without moving a muscle.

Future plans are to improve the BCI so that users can make Second Life avatars perform more complex movements and gestures. The researchers hope the mind-controlled avatar, which was created through a joint medical engineering project involving Keio’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Tsukigase Rehabilitation Center, will one day help people with serious physical impairments communicate and do business in Second Life.

(For video of the Second Life BCI, check the links on the Ushida & Tomita Laboratory news page, right above the first photo.)

[Source: Nikkei Net]

A vending machine at Tokyo’s Akihabara station is now offering a limited run of canned bishoujo bread in celebration of the new Clannad TV anime series that begins October 4.

Clannad, which was first released as an interactive love adventure game (visual novel) for the PC in April 2004, follows the adventures of a high school delinquent as he develops relationships with some of his female classmates.

The 350-yen ($3) canned Clannad treats — available in chocolate, strawberry, green tea, butter, raisin, blueberry, and milk — are manufactured and distributed by Pan Akimoto, who originally developed canned bread as an emergency food in the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. In Akihabara, where cuisine like canned oden enjoys widespread popularity, the future of canned bishoujo bread looks bright.

A vending machine on platform 6 (for Sobu line trains bound for Chiba) will be dispensing the canned bread until the end of October.

[Source: Mainichi]

To help commemorate the 10th anniversary of the release of Final Fantasy VII, Suntory has announced plans to begin selling its vitamin-packed Final Fantasy VII Potion carbonated drink in special aluminum cans featuring depictions of Cloud, Sephiroth and other characters from the game. Sixteen different character cans will be available at a price of 191 yen each when the limited-edition 4.8-million can shipment hits shelves on October 23.

[Source: Mantan Web]

Motion Portrait is a killer little piece of digital animation technology that easily transforms an ordinary digital photograph of a face into a living 3D animation that can blink and move its eyes, turn its gaze to follow the movement of the mouse cursor, express a range of emotions, sneeze and more — all in a matter of seconds. In addition to being fast and easy to use, Motion Portrait is much lighter than conventional 3D animation engines, making it ideal for use in cellphones, handheld games and other portable devices.

Originally developed at the Sony Kihara Research Center two years ago, Motion Portrait now belongs to Motion Portrait Inc., which was founded this July after the research center closed its doors last year. As the company continues to develop Motion Portrait, it is on the lookout for new ways to put the technology to use.

While the technical details are being kept secret, the company says Motion Portrait works by automatically recognizing the eyes, nose, mouth and other facial features in ordinary digital photographs to create an instant three-dimensional map of the head. The data is then run through Motion Portrait’s Expression Engine to create a range of facial expressions. Here are a few examples of Motion Portrait at work: 1, 2, 3.

In addition to photographs of human faces, Motion Portrait can also breathe life into pictures of pets, with a little manual input. Check out this fun yet sinister-looking dog (pictured above). Grrrr!

The technology can also be used to create anime from illustrations, and it is already being used in a PSP game — the Promise of Suzumiya Haruhi (Suzumiya Haruhi No Yakusoku) by Bandai Namco Games — due out in early August. With the ability to create a wide range of facial animations from a single image, Motion Portrait promises to reduce game development costs and improve quality. In addition, when used in conjunction with the company’s voice recognition technology, Motion Portrait automatically syncs the animated lips with voice data to create realistic-looking talking mouths. Here are two anime examples: 1, 2.

The company also sees potential uses for Motion Portrait in advertising and in creating avatars used on social networking sites. Further, as a simulation tool, beauty salons can use Motion Portrait to show customers how they might look with different hairstyles and makeup, and eyeglass shops can use it to help customers choose their next pair of eyeglasses.

No word yet on when Motion Portrait will be made available to the general user.

[Source: Motion Portrait via IT Media]

Since the release of the Forza Motorsport 2 racing sim for Xbox 360 several weeks ago, players worldwide have been using the in-game custom paint function to create incredible designs for their cars, which they can either race online or buy, sell and trade through the game’s virtual auction house. Japan’s digital racers have been in on the fun from the start, turning their virtual rides into magnificent itasha that scream otaku pride.

Here are links to two enormous online galleries (Gallery 1, Gallery 2) of virtual otaku-mobile paint jobs incorporating loads of Japanese-flavored eye candy, from anime and manga to games, food packaging and more. What makes these detailed paint jobs even more impressive is the fact they are created entirely with the game’s basic paint tools — a limited selection of vector shapes that can be colored, scaled, rotated and layered endlessly to create complex designs. Graphics cannot be imported from external sources, so everything is created manually step by step in what is undoubtedly a time-consuming process.

Here’s a tiny sample of some of the work found in the galleries:

[Link: Gallery 1, Gallery 2 via TECHSIDE]