280-inch Sony 3D LED Display Demonstrated in Japan

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3D is the new hot topic for TV makers. New technical advances are shown and some 3D enabled TVs and other devices are available on the market already for consumers. One major unsolved problem is still the availability of 3D content.
According to TechOn, Sony dazzled crowds at a International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition 2009 in Japan this week with a 280-inch 3D LED display (measuring 6.4x3.4m).
Read more

Posted on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Four New Sony PSP-3000 Holiday Value Packs Hit Japan

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Sony has with the PSP Go a new PSP model, which does not mean though that the PSP-3000 is now outdated. To the contrary, the PSP-3000 is still the main portable Sony console.
Japanese gamers get four new PSP-3000 value packs for the Holidays.
The bundle pack will include the PSP handheld entertainment system (PSP-3000) in Piano Black, Pearl White, Vibrant Blue or Radiant Red color, a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2), a pouch and a cloth.
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Posted on Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony Cuts Sony PSP-3000 Price In Japan

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Sony announced at the TGS 2009 a price cut for the Sony PSP-3000 console to 16,800 Yen (~$185) in Japan. The PSP price before was 19,800 yen (~$218). The question is now if Sony will also cut the PSP-3000 price in the United States, which is currently at $169.99.

What I see more likely is a price-cut for the PSP Go, as it is priced way too high at $249.99. So as soon as the early adopters got the PSP Go, the price is most likely to be cut. Read more

Posted on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Final Fantasy XIII For Sony PS3 Release Date December 17th In Japan

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Square Enix announced the release date of the next Final Fantasy version for the Sony PS3. Final Fantasy XIII will launch on December 17th in Japan.
The Final Fantasy series has sold more than 85 million units worldwide since it was first launched in 1987.

FF fans outside of Japan will have to wait until Sprint 2010 to play FFXIII. Read more

Posted on Tue, 8 Sep 2009 06:33:10 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Red and Blue Sony PSP Rookie Hunters Packs hit Japan

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Today Sony announced that it would release a PSP Rookie Hunters Pack on July 23, 2009, as a limited offer, in Japan.
The new PSP bundle pack is comprised of a PSP-3000 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite game.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite has seen great sales since its release in March 2008 at more than 3.4 million units in Japan.

Japanese gamers can choose between a radiant Red (PSPJ-30006) and a Vibrant Blue (PSPJ-30007) Rookie Hunters Pack. Read more

Posted on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:54:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony PS3 outsells Wii in Japan again

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The light at the end of the tunnel is shining brighter for the Sony PS3 at least in Japan. The Sony PS3 console outsold the Nintendo Wii for the 2nd month in a row.
As reported in March the PS3 outsold the Wii for the first time in 16 months.
In April Sony moved 108,530 PS3 consoles and Nintendo just 67,116 Wii consoles according to numbers from Enterbrain (Via Reuters). Read more

Posted on Sat, 2 May 2009 07:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo, Capcom Win Big at Japan’s Famitsu Awards

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Japan’s leading videogame magazine, Famitsu, finally announced the winners of its 2008 awards, and in a display of differences between Japanese and American videogame tastes, Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G took home the Game of the Year prize, with publisher Capcom being named Company of the Year.

Nintendo also fared well, with Wii Music, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros Brawl all winning awards.

1UP.com translated the entire list of winners, chosen via popular vote by Famitsu’s readers:

• Game of the year: Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G
• Best Seller: Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G
• Person of the Year: Hideo Kojima
• Character of the Year: Solid Snake
• Company of the Year: Capcom
• Rookie Title Prize: The Last Remnant
• Innovation Prize: Wii Music
• High Quality Prize: Metal Gear Solid 4
• Racing Prize: Mario Kart Wii
• Multiplayer Prize: Super Smash Bros Brawl
• All Generation Prize: Pokemon Platinum
• Communication Prize: Animal Crossing: City Folk
• Adventure Puzzle Prize: Professor Layton and the Final Journey Through Time
• Masterpiece Prize: Dragon Quest V
• Character Action Prize: Dissidia Final Fantasy
• Role Playing Prize: Tales of Vesperia
• Dramatic Prize: 428
• PlayStation 2 Prize: Persona 4
• Worldwide Prize: Grand Theft Auto IV

Posted on Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:25:00 CDT | by James Douglas

Sony PS3 outsells Wii in Japan in March for the first time in 16 months

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Japanese gamers made the Sony PS3 the best selling console in the month of March beating the Nintendo Wii for the first time in 16 months.
Sales of the PS3 were pushed by two new games: Sega Sammy Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 and Capcom's Resident Evil 5.
Apparently Sony sold 146,948 PS3 consoles beating the Wii by almost 50,000 units. Nintendo sold 99,335 Wii consoles. Read more

Posted on Mon, 6 Apr 2009 12:38:35 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Japan's Next Top Model is Robot HRP-4C

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Japan got the first female fashion robot who will hit the Catwalk at the Tokyo Fashion Week.
The HRP-4C robot is 158cm tall and weighs 43kg including battery. The robot is not actually tall enough for a fashion model.
The Japanese are in love with humanoid robots and every year they get better. The HRP-4C already has some smooth movements, but the Actroid already had skin. Now they AIST researchers need to combine the looks of the Actroid and the movements and technology of the HRP-4C and they've got something. Read more

Posted on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Acer Aspire One D150 10.1 inch Netbook hits Japan

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Acer has started shipping the new Acer Aspire One D150 netbook featuring a new 10.1 inch display in Asia.
According to Digitimes, Acer has started volume shipments in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Acer also officially announced the Acer Aspire One D150 in Japan today. The Acer Aspire One D150 is available for pre-order already on Amazon.com for $349.99. Amazon does not specify a shipping date yet though. Read more

Posted on Fri, 6 Feb 2009 02:06:17 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

NEC LaVie Notebook Launches in Japan

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It's been a long time since I have seen a NEC notebook and the last one I did see was a boxy black device with no apparent design details other than make it work. NEC has a new notebook line for the Japanese market called the LaVie notebook that is available in several colors and has an attractive design.

The notebook comes in white, pink, black, and red and offers a 15.4-inch LCD with a 1280 x 800 resolution. The CPU is an Intel core 2 Duo P8600 and the machine has 4GB of RAM, a 320GB HDD, and uses the Intel GM45 chipset. Read more

Posted on Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

First hybrid Blu-ray DVD Disc (BD-DVD) hits Japanese Market

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Japan gets the first hybrid Blu-ray DVD disc release in February with the Code Blue Box set. The three layer disc can be read by existing Blu-ray players and DVD players.
The Blu-ray player is using the blue laser with wave length of 405nm and the DVD player uses the 650nm red laser to read the disc without interference.
Currently the technology is limited to singly layer Blu-ray discs. Read more

Posted on Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Fujitsu Water-cooled Notebook Now Available in Japan

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Water-cooling is nothing new for the desktop PC world where liquid cooling in enthusiast machines is very common. What you don’t see are liquid cooled notebooks. Fujitsu says that its liquid cooled Lifebook N7010 notebook is now available.

In addition to the liquid cooling, the notebook also has a 4-inch touchscreen integrated into the chassis right above the keyboard. In a bit of turnabout, the machine wasn't available in Japan with the touchscreen. Read more

Posted on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Wireless USB Kit for PCMCIA Slots Debuts in Japan

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A new wireless USB kit has launched in Japan that provides laptop users with a PCMCIA slot the capability to deploy wireless USB in the home or office. The kit includes the WUSB OC card with an external antenna and a wireless four port USB hub.

The kit is called the Certified Wireless USB Kit REX-WUSB1. Software based setup will sync the CardBus PC card to the wireless hub and allow for printing, backup and access to other USB gear without wires. Both USB 2.0 and 1.0 speeds are supported and the device uses the Realtek RTU7010 UWB chip in the PC card and NEC PD720180 and Realtek RTU7010 UWB chip in the hub. Read more

Posted on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Best Japanese and Asian Shops to find unique Gizmos and Gifts

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Japanese gadget exporters have for years been a great source for unique gadget gifts. The makers of the famous Japanese notebook exporters Dynamism launched yesterday a new store called Gizmine.
We took this launch to feature our favorite Japanese and Asian shops that ship unique products from the east to the rest of the world. See our picks of Japanese shops below.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:32:36 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

New Japanese Kisai Denshoku LED Watch is a Geek Gift with Style

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Our Watch News site Wrist Dreams just reported about a new Japanese LED watch which a great new design that could be straight out of Star Trek. The Kisai Denshoku has twelve LED bars that tell the time and look cool doing while doing it. This is a great gift for people who love cool things and don't mind style and gadgetry to be more important than function.

The Kisai Denshoku is inspired by the neon skylines of Shinjuku, Denshoku combines high quality materials and advanced technology with intuitive design. Read more

Posted on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:01:14 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Tomy Hi-Kara Karaoke Cube is so Japanese

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Takara Tomy knows what Japanese want - a tiny portable Karaoke cube is just the thing. Tomy Hi-kara measures 70x70x70mm and sports a 2.4 inch color screen.
The Karaoke music and text material comes via little cartridges that are plugged into the cube. A headset with microphone is used to sing along and listen to the tracks.
A nice detail of the Hi-Kara design is the smiley face arrangement of the buttons on top. The smiley face is an important design element of consumer products, but is not as often so obviously visible as on the Hi-Kara cube. Read more

Posted on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Tomy XIAO 5MP Camera and Built-in Printer about to launch in Japan

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If you visit Japan before Christmas than the Tomy XIAO 5MP digital camera with built-in instant photo printer is a great gadget to bring home.
The Tomy XIAO has the same portable photo printing technology from Zink like the Polaroid PoGo.
Measurements of the XIAO are only 149.5 x 74.5 x 25mm. Other features of the Tomy Takara XIAO include 4x zoom, 2.48" full color LCD display, 16MB internal memory, SD card slot, and IrSimple/IrDA receiver. Read more

Posted on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:02:33 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

The Nintendo DSi is a hot Seller in Japan

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Nintendo launched the new Nintendo DSi last weekend and based on the sales numbers of Enterbrain, Nintendo sold about 171,000 DSi in two days.

Nintendo has shipped apparently 200,000 units into the channel across Japan and is adding another 100,000 DSi consoles by the end of this week. Read more

Posted on Thu, 6 Nov 2008 03:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo DSi ships today in Japan, import Yours now

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Nintendo started shipping the new Nintendo DSi in Japan today. As reported the Nintendo DSi will not be available outside of Japan until next Summer. For hard-core Nintendo fans outside of Japan there is either booking a flight to Japan or buy the DSi at an Japanese video game exporter like Play-Asia.

The Nintendo DSi retails for about $192 in Japan. Play-Asia sells the DSi for $299 internationally. Read more

Posted on Sat, 1 Nov 2008 01:36:24 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New Sharp Aquos W64SH TV Phone hits Japanese Carrier KDDI

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Sharp unveiled new Aquos branded mobile phones in Japan with the Sharp Aquos W64SH featuring a neat 3.5 inch screen.
Japanese KDDI customers can watch DMB TV on a new Sharp screen featuring Mobile ASV, high color rendering backlight, 2,000:1 contrast ratio, SV engine + and smooth mode.
Stereo speakers are placed on the sides of the screen like on a big TV.
Other features of the new Sharp TV phone W64SH include 5.2MP camera, FM Transmitter, Bluetooth, and Dictionary. Read more

Posted on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:28:46 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr