Hello people I make this short post to tell everyone that we acquired our own .com domain named www.animecasters.com (no surprise there) so please visit us at our new site at update your bookmarks and feeds to our new site.

Samus Aran will be soon on her quest for revenge, and for the saque of  the galaxy she better get it.

One of the new announcements on the E3 was the release of a prequel of Metroid. This version of series was develop by Team Ninja instead of the current company, the reason is simple the company is on hiatus an nintendo need to get their lines stronger.

This had made an uproar on the convention, well people are wondering if Metroid will use all the potential of the wii. And how good it will be these release, remeber we are talking about Metroid.

The game title is Metroid Other M. ,until now is the oficial name for press release, and it is schedule to be on the market by mid 2010.

Preview of Metroid Other M.

The new appearance has made many expectations on the announcement of these prequel,  one of the main questions is about the history of the game. We know quite well about Samus Aran, (the sexiest bounty hunter kicking alien scum, ehem) of the powersuit and the chase after the evil metroid.

Nintendo has stated that the concept of the game will be based on the manga series of Metroid, and will conect to the actual game plot line in no time. The bet of nintendo is thata the game will bring back many of the followers of the series, bringing back this awesome bounty hunter.

Metroid Manga

Well is well known by us that metroid is one of the big guns of nintendo, and we have seen games for almost every nintendo gaming console (well not on the virtualboy but who cares). The period of time when we didnt heard any news from the adventures of Samus, was during the reign of the nintendo 64. There were rumours of a project of metroid been canceled but this myth remains on the shadows until now.

The presentation shows a new style for the gameplay and for the developing of the encounters and of course the story plot. To me it seems quite impresive. It has as usual the goodies from previous releases. And it brings a well expected event, for the first time Samus voice will be heard, when interacting. These may seem irrelevant to many, but for the harcored fans are gratefull of this feature. To the ones that dont get the  importance of the event, it is like the expectation of the face of Masteri Chief from Halo.

We have watch many times the quest of Samus Aran to bring peace to the universe by chasing and defeating the evil metroid, who will try to posess any obstacle on its way.

From this

to this,, hell yeah

This a cool but irrelevant video of the best galaxy fighters enjoy.

We will have to check to verify the awesomeness of the new metroid release

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) – One of China’s most sought-after actors is starring in an animated short-film about human trafficking and sexual exploitation, issues that have plagued the country, and Asia, for decades.

Zhang Hanyu, who won the Chinese equivalent of an Oscar at the Golden Horse awards in Taiwan last year, lends his voice to the Mandarin version of “Intersection”, will be shown on Music Television (MTV) China this weekend.

Thai and English versions have already been broadcast on MTV’s Southeast Asia channels, and versions in other Asian languages are planned.

The film is told from the perspective of five people, including a brothel owner, a trafficker and the victim. Both humorous and darkly depressing, “Intersection” is designed to put its message across in a medium young people can relate to.

“I hope the animation will stir meaningful conversations among youth about how we can fight against this tragic form of modern-day slavery,” Zhang said.

Chinese actress Yuan Quan and Taiwanese singing and acting veteran Alec Su also give their voices to the film, described by MTV as an “adrenaline-fuelled animation”.

The United Nations estimates that out of the two million women and children trafficked every year, 30 percent are in Asia.

“Intersection” was produced by MTV EXIT’s (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, which works with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to raise awareness about human trafficking.

MTV EXIT has previously worked with such international stars as Angelina Jolie and South Korean pop sensation Rain.

“We’re using a different medium, animation, to alert young people about the risks of human trafficking,” said Olivier Carduner, USAID’s Mission Director for Asia.

The film is also meant to be used by non-governmental organisations and even schools to spread its message.

Trafficking is an issue in China, which has said it was making progress in fighting the problem, both domestically and from Southeast Asian nations such as neighbouring poverty-stricken Myanmar. It has resorted to harsh punishments to deter it, including the death penalty.

The trafficking of women into China in particular is driven by poverty and a skewed sex ratio in parts of the countryside, which makes it difficult for many farmers to find wives.

Poverty also forces many desperate Chinese to try to illegally enter other countries by paying traffickers known as “snakeheads”, who often charge their victims exorbitant sums of money and force them to work as virtual slaves when they arrive.

In April, state media reported that Chinese police had broken up a ring trying to smuggle about 300 mainly young people into Costa Rica.

Via Reuters India

The creator of m any great comics Stan Lee now grants a 15 minutes for an interview about the newest game based on Marvel characters Marvel Alliance 2, courtesy of PopWatch, this interview give us a little insight in the mind of this great genius , his attitude towards videogames, (which is great by the way) and interesting relationship with a interesting little trinket.

What would be of life without his great characters such as Spiderman, Ironman, fantastic fours, greatest of all the Incredible hulk, and so many others.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What do you like about this game?

STAN LEE: Just the fact that there are so many characters under your control and the fact that you can team up with three other players at the same time. Every one of them is accurately portrayed. You can be a villain, you can be a hero, you can play with your friends…it’s great. It even has a surprise ending that I can’t tell you about.

You’ve been telling stories since the ’60s. What do you make of all of the sophisticated video game tools that are available to the current generation of storytellers? Do you think all of this technology makes their job too easy?

It’s never easy to tell stories. I wish they had these videogames when I was getting into the business. Videogames are like movies but with even more imagination. When you watch a movie you have no control over it, but with a videogame, it’s like watching a movie you can be part of; you can determine which way it will go. It’s like you can be the audience and also the director at the same time. I find that incredibly exciting. I wish that I were more in that field; I wish I knew the technical part and could actually create a videogame; I think it’s much harder to do than a motion picture. You start out with what a motion picture has — a basic story and characters and all of that — but then you have all these options that you thrown in that a motion picture doesn’t have. It must be harder to write a videogame than a movie.

EW.com: Let’s say you were Stan Lee in your formative years right now. Do you think you would be still be a comic book creator, or do you think you would’ve been a videogame designer?

Stan Lee: I enjoy creating characters and I enjoy telling stories. Since videogames are a bigger field than comic books right now — they’re bigger than just about anything now — I would want to be in videogames. I would try to come up with some ideas that are different than what they’re already doing or else it wouldn’t be any fun. It would be a challenge. To me a videogame is more of a challenge than a comic book. From that point of view, I’d want to get into it.

Which of the two mediums — movies or videogames — have been better at capturing the essence of the comic book characters that you’ve created?

Certainly, the movies give you more characterization because a videogame, the very nature of what it is, must have continual action and obviously the characters have their own powers and weaknesses, but it’s a little hard getting into their personalities the way you can in a movie. A videogame is different; it’s something where you’re a part of it and, at least with today’s games, it’s mostly action. In a movie you probably get more of an actual story. Today it seems that what the public wants is to play videogames and to be part of the action. Videogames are so big today; obviously there is room for something where the action is more paramount than the characterization.

I think that’s why videogames work so well with superheroes: for the same reason why they work so well with professional sports. I can’t hit a 95mph fastball. I can’t jump over skyscrapers in a single bound…

You can’t?

I’m sure you can. But I think that’s what videogames are for: immersion and role-playing.

You said the magic word: role-playing. That’s what the fans seem to love. They can imagine that they’re the Hulk or Captain America or Thor or Spider-Man. You can read a story and imagine it, but you can’t actually be doing the thing; controlling the character. So I think that’s the main appeal of games; that it’s a role-playing form of entertainment.

In the last 10 years, there have been quite a few movies based on Marvel characters. Who do you th ink has been the most brilliant casting choice? Which actor do you think truly nailed his or her part?

Oh golly. I’ll tell you one: Tobey Maguire playing Spider-Man. Nobody would have thought he would be that good of a choice but Sam Raimi thought of it and it worked. He was superb. It couldn’t have been a better choice. I also think Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor X and Magneto were wonderful choices because they gave [the X-Men movies] class. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man — that was inspired too. He made the movie.

Let’s say, God forbid, your house is on fire. What is the most cherished item you’re grabbing as you’re fleeing?

My wife!

I meant to say: what is the most cherished Marvel Comics-related item…do you have any memorabilia that you have a strong sentimental attachment to?

I have a paperweight. It’s a little silver figure of Spider-Man crouching. I keep it on my desk. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen. It’s probably very old and it’s a great paperweight. He’s looking up at me all the time as I’m sitting there writing. I feel like we’re friends!

Via PopWatch

Its here, its finished, its awesome, the first 1/1 RX-78-2 Gundam is finished, we just need a Minovsky Drive and we are set.

Created in Odaiba to be part of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Mobile Suit Gundam Series and is planned to be unveiled on July 11, and be shown until August 31st.

Truly an spectacular sight I wish i have the money on hand just to see the unveiling ceremony.

Via Sankaku Complex

Videogame makers at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this week shrugged off the dismal economy, debuting supercharged sequels to blockbuster titles and play that is increasingly social and active.

“All three publishers showed strong,” said Scott Steinberg of videogame and gadget Web site Digital Trends, referring to E3 line-ups touted by competing console makers Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony.

“The gamers are probably the ones that are going to win in the end,” he said.
Publishers of hit videogame titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect and God of War offered sequels with intriguing story lines, stunning graphics and game play tuned with feedback from fans.

A second installment in 2K Games’ BioShock set in a fictional undersea world called “Rapture” spins off the original gripping tale and adds online multi-player features that were among E3 trends.

Videogames once designed as solo experiences are increasingly using Internet connections to link players and immerse them together in virtual worlds where multiple players can be allies or enemies.

BioShock 2 multi-player features let people customize the abilities of characters and then battle in modes including “survival of the fittest” and team civil war, 2K senior producer Melissa Miller said.

“Imagine going into a match where someone can be just as creative as you are, and how that changes your game play,” Miller said after demonstrating the title. “That is what we think is truly special about the multi-player component.”

A MAG war videogame poised for release will let as many as 256 online players, divided into units, battle against each other simultaneously.

“We are seeing games become more of a group exercise with a lot more chances to experience games with friends and social networking,” Steinberg said. “Games are actually bringing people together instead of splitting them apart”

Videogame makers continue to court girls and women, seniors and others considered “casual gamers” — players other than young men fanatic about action and shooter titles.

Titles geared toward girls include fashion, cheerleading and charm.

A Bayonetta action videogame features a fierce heroine pitted against a formidable villainess.

Sony is working with entertainment giant Disney to pair a Hannah Montana videogame with a lilac PSP handheld playing device.

Girls are prime buyers of Nintendo DS handheld videogame devices, and Ubisoft’s line of Imagine titles for the gadgets have been hot sellers with that demographic.

E3 abounded with exercise, sports and dance videogames that people play by moving their bodies instead of just their thumbs.

Nintendo pioneered the revolution with the release in 2006 of Wii consoles with motion-sensing controllers.

Traditional controllers on consoles such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 feature toggles and buttons that players manipulate to dictate the actions of videogame characters.

Nintendo rivals Microsoft and Sony said at E3 they were working on motion-sensing controllers for their videogame consoles, signaling the trend toward active game play is likely to intensify.

A Project Natal prototype for Xbox 360 combines cameras and face and voice recognition software to let players control game play with natural body movements.
“For every two people now playing there is one more just waiting to jump into the game,” Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata said, citing a study of done by the Japanese firm.

Videogame hardware and software sales boomed last year despite a global financial crisis but have fallen in recent months.

Industry insiders at E3 remained optimistic.

“Over the past year, our industry has done well in this uncertain economic climate,” Xbox vice president John Schappert said, “perhaps because now, more than ever before, people want to have fun and they want to connect with each other, all from the comfort of their living rooms.”

Via Taipei Times

Now days the digital revolution is truly frightening as is great it would be long that we would live in a shadowrun-like world, but i digress, the motive I write this entry to report this awesome software from the vaults of Smith Micro Software, they called it Anime Studio 6.

This solution allows both pros and amateurs to create their own quality animations from both in eastern and western styles from cartoons and movies, to cut scenes for video games (now if they can apply this to eroges….mmmm) in easy and intuitive ways to produce great works in record time.

Anime Studio 6 contains a lot of useful content such as

• Get started quickly – Anime Studio Debut is packed with ready-to-use cartoon characters, props, video, and sounds so you can start creating your own animations right away. Tutorials and sample files show you how to maximize Anime Studio’s powerful features giving you the jump needed from your first project onwards.
• Your digital art, your way – To get started, sketch your original art, scan in or import graphics, or if you use a pen tablet you can recreate the sensation of drawing on paper.
• Vector graphics provide power and flexibility – Use multiple layers and resize your images with no loss in quality.
• Animate your characters using bones – Using Anime Studio’s bone rigging system; you can add a skeleton to any image by point-and-click to bring it to life. With Anime Studio, there’s no need to create new art for each individual frame as you animate. Just adjust the bones to your desired position and the program will generate the movement for you. It’s that easy!
• Direct your action with an intuitive timeline – Setting your movements to a timeline makes animation easy to understand. Anime Studio will create animations up to two minutes long.
• Add an audio soundtrack to your animation – Add emotion and style to your animations by adding sound. Anime Studio supports WAV and AIFF formats.
• Publish for multiple media – Output your finished creations directly to YouTube™ or save as popular video, TV, and web formats, including SWF Flash animation files, as well as AVI and MOV movie files.

Tutorial No. 1

This awesome solution is very cheap costing 50 USD only 20 to upgrade if you own a older version, but if you want to truly thrown yourself head first to the world of animation you can buy the PRO version of Anime Studio 6 that contain even more powerful tools such as Integrated Lip Synching to give you versatility and accurate lip and mouth movements, Unlimited Professional Output to formats including NTSC/PAL D1/DV Standard and Widescreen; HDV and HDTV 780p and 1080p; AVI, MOV, Flash and more.

Smith Micro Software also have other solutions such as Manga Studio EX 4.0 that give a great number of tools for manga creation ranging from 3000 screen tones, and even better it allow to make your own and millions more for coloring your drawings, Import 3D objects and easily transform them into tone and line drawings by using the 3DLT rendering function.

As you can see the power of this tools really great, and even better they available for both Windows and Mac.

Neon Genesis Evangelion on the news, don’t worry inst the announcement of the end of the world or the project of human instrumentation, at least not yet, hopefully.

Well sort of, on of the new approaches of sony to get more selling attention  for the PS3 ,was the developing  of a software that tell the daily news to the gamers.  But not just gaming news but world wide news.

The host of these news is the well known character of neon genesis evangelion Misato Katsuragi, how is possible you ask. Certainly they didn’t hired permanently  the japanese seiyu (the one how made the voice for an anime character) Kotono Mitsuishi or the english voice Allison Keith(only on proposal, but until now only japanase voice), for giving all news.

The sony company develop a read out loud software, based on the voice of the character, the program use the default voice to say the news with the voice of the character.The project was order  to the company Cellius.

Many will think this is kind a new feature, but it isn’t, there are many programs on the web that are quite capable. The quality of the voice is assure by  Hitachi’s Speed Synthesizer a Ruby Talk program.

One of most important features is the visual simulation of the face and expressions of Misato Katsuragi. At is is say by sony there aren’t visual mistakes when the character say the news(we have to see about that).

And people say otakus lack of attention, just see us watching the news,

One of the biggest questions made by fans are if we will select the news rss on web pages, or if it will be news selected by sony. Until now the news come from Mainichi Shimbun news and the broadcast started on June 6 2009.

The nerv news service will cost $8 for a 30 day subscription. The news will cover general news, sport and subculture information. The program will be named Misato Katsuragi Report Program.

On the bright side, even if you heard a bad new, it at least be softener by the sweet voice of Misato.

The is a high rate of acceptance from the otaku fans, well really what do you expected, is the good damn Misato Katsuragi, how will go against her, just look at it.)

Another feature for the joy of many otakus, is the ability to change Misato’s outfit between a selection of many outfits also we can change the set and the type of hair from many options.

People are wondering if on the program updates, there will be new character host of the anime series. But until now there isn’t any information about this.

Well who say that news were boring.

“PlayStation Network has experienced a high growth year and today we’re excited to add new content partners such as Showtime, G4 & E!, Magnolia Films, and TNA to our family. In addition to extending our content offerings and expanding with new features like Media Go, we continue to bring relevant and compelling content via original games and programming to our users,” said Peter Dille, senior vice president marketing and PlayStation Network, SCEA.

“Gamers will be pleased to find new games for all genres and interests with original titles Fat Princess and Gravity Crash, in addition to many PS one Classics such as Final Fantasy VII coming to PlayStation Network this year.”

Video Delivery Service

PSP system users now have direct access to PlayStation Network’s video delivery service, where they can download their favorite movie and television programs and take with them on-the-go. In addition, the video delivery service is announcing content from 16 new premier partners in Hollywood, anime and sports.

Hollywood content partners include Showtime Networks Inc., Starz Media, for Film, TV and Manga Anime, G4 and E!, Summit Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, HDnet and Magnolia Pictures. Anime partners include, Anime Network, Media Blasters, Right Stuf’s Nozomi Entertainment, Starz Media’s Manga Entertainment, Toei Animation, Viz Media and WEP. FUNimation Entertainment will also be a part of a new anime category on the video delivery service. Sports partners include HDNet Fights, UFC, Wrestling from TNA and Video Action Sports.

Premier Hollywood content will include hit films such as Overture Films “Righteous Kill,” Summit Entertainment “Twilight” and The Weinstein Company “Zack & Miri Make a Porno.” PlayStation Store will also feature TV shows such as Showtime Networks Inc.’s “Dexter,” E!’s “The Soup,” G4’s “X-Play” and Starz Media’s “Painkiller Jane.”

A new anime channel will also launch in both the TV and film sections of the video store and will feature the best in anime content, including Anime Network’s “Appleseed,” Starz Media Manga Entertainment’s “Dead Space.” Toei Animation’s “Fist of the North Star,” Viz Media’s “Naruto” and WEP’s “Voltron.”

Some of the new sports content will include bouts from HDNet Fight’s “Inside MMA,” wrestling from TNA’s “iMPACT!,” UFC PPV events and Video Action Sports’ “That’s It, That’s All.”

With the addition of these new partners, the video delivery service will have nearly 1900 movies and 9400 TV episodes, covering reality, mixed martial arts, sports, anime, manga and animation genres. For one price, PlayStation users can watch standard definition (SD) video content from the comfort of their home television on the PS3 system or at their convenience on-the-go with the PSP system.

PlayStation Store offers a combined total of nearly 9,000 hours of video content, with more than 35 % percent of the movies in High Definition. Through the PS3 and PSP systems users can access a unique three-in-one entertainment package unlike any other the ability to enjoy high-definition Blu-ray movies, groundbreaking games, and downloadable video content from one platform and one service.

With the launch of the video delivery service for the PSP system, Media Manager for PC is being replaced with Media Go. Media Go is a free application that makes it easier and more convenient for consumers to manage their PSP games, photos, videos and music on their PC and provides access to PlayStation Store.

Games

Several PlayStation Network titles for both the PS3 and PSP systems were announced at E3, adding to the robust lineup of over 200 downloadable games available for PlayStation Store. For the PS3 system, Gravity Crash from developer Just Add Water melds a vintage gravity based arcade shooter with High Definition (HD) graphics, and Hustle Kings, from VooFoo Studios, is the PS3 system’s first photorealistic billiards simulator.

For the PSP system, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake brings a fun and strategic medieval battle royale unlike anything seen before on the portable system. In addition, the PlayStation Store will deliver more than 60 PS one Classics by the end of the year and will launch Final Fantasy VII and Medal of Honor on PlayStation Store today.

Starting this fall, many PSP titles that will be launched on UMD will also be offered digitally on PlayStation Store in North America. This will add nearly 300 games from the PSP system’s library available for download through PlayStation Network.

PlayStation Network is built on a legacy of gaming and continues to expand into a premier entertainment platform with innovative and compelling content options for people to enjoy on multiple devices.

About PlayStation Network

PlayStation Network is an entertainment network that unites people and innovative entertainment to deliver captivating experiences worldwide. In addition to offering new and original forms of entertainment, PlayStation Network supports free and community-centric online gameplay, communication tools, and PSP (PlayStation Portable) and PLAYSTATION 3 systems connectivity. As of the end of May 2009, PlayStation Network has more than 24 million registered accounts worldwide.

About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PlayStation and PS one game console, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, the PSP (PlayStation Portable) handheld entertainment system, the ground-breaking PLAYSTATION3 (PS3) computer entertainment system and its online and network services the PlayStation Network and PlayStation Store.

Recognized as the undisputed industry leader, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. markets the PlayStation family of products and develops, publishes, markets, and distributes software for the PS one, PlayStation 2, PSP and PS3 systems for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. serves as headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Via TTKN News

Here I present to you the art of this devilish genius of this otherworldly creature, reinventing music rigth and left, old and new, obscure and famous alike, nothing its truly safe from him and his mystic violin.

Read on an partake in the fruits of his eerly music.

The artist goes by the nickname of “The Screamer”, and he is a regular performer in Nico Nico Douga, but the videos can are also published on Youtube here are some of the best (in my opinion) videos uploaded there.

Sorairo Days from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan

Shangri-La from Soukyuu no Fafner

Blue Bird from Naruto Shippuden

Ash like snow from Gundam 00

Vampire Killer from Castlevania

Night of Knights from Touhou

Chrono Trigger Medley

Seikan Hikou from Macross Frontier

The Stolen Scepter from Sorcerian

Brave New World from Namco X Capcom

Ruins of Moondorian from YsII

Seed of Tears, Flower of Smiles Toppa Gurren Lagann the Movie: Spiral Stone Chapter

Live with violin in KYOTO 2009