Idolm@ster Shiny Festa

Bandai Namco's hit game and anime series "The idolm@ster" has returned to the PSP with a trio of games to get your feet tapping!

Honey Sound                     Funky Note                Groovy Tune
Main logo with subtitles for each game. 

Announced on Bandai Namco's official "THE IDOLM@STER" web portal, only day prior to the franchises's 7th Anniversary concert, Namco Bandai promised fans that the first preview of the games would be available at the concert. Within a few hours of the concert's end they posted the video to their web page.

"THE IDOLM@STER" follows an idol producer and a group of 13 girls (depending on which game you are playing) as they join the 765 (prounounced NAMUKO) production agency in order to fulfill their dreams of becoming Japan's top idols. The series first made its debut in Japanese arcades in 2005 and has grown in popularity eventually landing a two season anime series in 2010.

The main cast of most "The IDOLM@STER" games (minus Ritsuko Akizuki) 

In their newest game, Bandai Namco has brought back the full roster of girls from the "Idolm@ster 2" game released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox360. "Shiny Festa" takes a note from the Idolma@ster's previous PSP game "Idolm@ster SP". To make sure that everyone could enjoy their favorite idols, Bandai Namco broke up the game into three different games "Perfect Sun" "Wandering Star" and "Missing Moon" Each game featuring different idols and a different rival.  While SP focused on the series's main plot of raising your idols, "Shiny Festa" takes a step back from the story and focus mostly on the rhythm game aspect of the series. 

Ritsuko Akizuki  Haruka Amami Chihaya Kisaragi Azusa Miura 
[Naomi Wakabayashi] [Eriko Nakamura] [Asami Imai] [Chiaki Takahashi]
Shiny Festa: Honey Sound cast including voice actress's names 

Mami Futami Iori Minase Yayoi Takatsuki Hibiki Ganaha Ami Futami
[Asami Shimoda] [Rie Kugimiya] [Mayako Nigo] [Manami Numakura] 
Shiny Festa: Funky Note cast
(Mami and Ami Futami are both voiced by Asami Shimoda) 

Takane Shijou  Yukiho Hagiwara Miki Hoshii Makoto Kikuchi 
[Yumi Hara] [Azumi Asakura] [Akiko Hasegawa] [Hiromi Hirata] 
Shiny Festa: Groovy Tune cast

Typical Idolm@ster games involve training, practicing, and promoting your idols to overcome their rivals and snag the top idol spot in the nation. However, Shiny Festa claims that it will focus on rhythm game aspect by offering different ways to promote your idols. 

By using the new rhythm mode you can enter your idols to perform on stage and charm the audience. 

A first for the series! You can give your idols instruments to perform as a band! 

Using stages and songs from Idolm@ster 2, you can give a passionate concert for your fans! 

With the idolm@ster anime gaining popularity, you can play songs exclusive to the anime while watching some of the anime's classic scenes. 

Finally, You can make a music video for your idol with costumes from the spin off game series "G4U" (Gravier for you)

All modes of game play appear to use the same rhythm game play which uses a timing button hit system, However not many details of the system have been revealed yet. 

Yayoi, Mami, and Miki perform with the game play system visible.
(Photo courtesy of famitsu.com) 

THE IDOLM@STER SHINY FESTA is set to be released on October 25th 2012. With a promise of special pre-order goods to those who pre-order all three games. Each game will be 5,980 yen for UMD versions and 5,380 yen for the download version. 

Project Diva ~f~ New Songs and Costumes!

Sega updated today with a video and pictures showing off new songs and costumes for the next installment of there "Project Diva" series. Project Diva features virtual diva "Miku Hatsune" and other Crypton Vocaloids as they sing and dance their way onto the Playstation Vita. 

Freely Tomorrow - Music and Lyrics by Mitchie M, ЯIRE

Originally posted on July 31st. 2011 This song received praise for its realistic and smooth sounds. It jumped up the Vocaloid Ranking quickly then and managed to get over a million view before sliding back down and hanging on at the bottom of the charts. The song was given new life in March of this year when user Yama_ko created a video for it. (seen below) 

The costume in the Project Diva ~f~ video is "Star Voice" Designed by "NIL" 

Time Machine - Music and Lyrics by 1640mP (164 X 40mP) 

A collaboration between Vocaloid Producers 40mP (40 Meters. Sometimes written as 40㍍P) and 164 (Known for the song "Shining Ray". Time Machine like many other Vocaloid hit songs rose very quickly and dropped very quickly but it has remained in everyone's hearts.Enough to land it a spot on the album "Vocalanthems"  by Exit Tunes. 

The costume featured in the Project Diva version is "Summer Memory" Designed by "gita"

Cat Food - doriko: The first song confirmed for Project Diva ~f~ (Confirmed before the game was even announced) As a Christmas present, Sega released a video of this song stating that everyone's present was the knowledge that there would be another "Project Diva" game to come in the following year. 

The costume for this video is "Pierretta" Designed by "Nezuki"

Haihahaini - Music by TENNEN Lyrics by niboshi

KAITO fans can celebrate. For the second time KAITO has a solo song in a Project Diva game! The song "HAIHAHAINI" released in 2009 ranks highly as one of KAITO's solo songs. 

The costume for HAIHAHAINI is "Requiem "Designed by "Umu". The actual costume used in the original video is being used for Project Diva ~f~ 

Nostalogic - Music by yuukiss Lyrics by yuukiss, rose

Long time MEIKO fans will tell you, this was one of the songs that not only put MEIKO on the map but also  showed off what the Vocaloid 1 software could do. MEIKO fans have been clamoring for this song to be featured on Project Diva from the beginning. Many Vocaloid fans are familiar with the song not only for its catchy tune but for its video featuring a "real" MEIKO. "Yumiko" a cosplayer dressed up as MEIKO sings and dances the song. 

The costume used for Project Diva ~f~ 's version of "Nostalogic" is "Blue Crystal" Designed by "Anko"

Melancholic - Music and Lyrics by Junky 

Considered to be one Rin Kagamine's most "famous" songs, "Melancholic" Debuted highly on Vocaloid Rankings and tt's video has long since puzzled fans. The inclusion of "Melancholic" to Project Mirai earlier  this year brought the randomly placed giraffes into 3D. It also placed the song deeper in the hearts of Rin fans. 

Rin's costume simply titled "Melancholy" was designed by "Chiho" for the original video. 

Fire◎Flower - Music and Lyrics by halyosy 

In the history of Len Kagamine's performances during Sega's Vocaloid concerts, Len has never performed a full song by himself. Until this year. The song "Fire◎Flower" has been a fan favorite of Len's since its creation in 2008. 

Len's costume for the Project Diva ~f~ version is "Star Mine" Designed by Yasa (The name might be "Yuu" but I unfortunately don't know which is the correct reading of the kanji in this situation.)

Secret Police (himitsu keisatsu) - Music and Lyrics by buriru

Himitsu Keisatsu (Secret Police) tells the story of Miku and the other vocaloids secretly working for the government to control your thoughts and actions! Let's pray they aren't really that way! 

Miku's costume for Secret Police is called "Dark Angle" while it isn't credited to a designer, its believed to be a modification of the costume she wears in the original video. 

DYE - Music and Lyrics by AVTechNO!

Originally posted in 2010, "DYE" with its English lyrics enjoyed a large amount of fame. So much in fact that it became the center of a controversy when Japanese pop group "KAT-TUN" released a song where the intro had been directly taken from "DYE" outraged fans called them out on it and received an apology from KAT-TUN's parent company "Johnny's Entertainment". AVTechNO!'s original video of DYE has since been taken down from Nico Nico Douga but can be found on Youtube. 

Luka's costume for DYE is "Eternal White" Designed by "Kitajima Shizuka" 

World's End Dancehall - Music and Lyrics by wowaka

The second song to be announced for the at the time named "Project Diva -Next-", "World's End Dancehall" has been an immensely popular song, sparking many parodies and spin off songs. Its inclusion into Project Diva ~f~ is most welcomed. "World's End Dancehall" is the first and only duet song to have been announced at this time. 

Miku and Luka's costumes are "Jade" for Miku and "Ruby" for Luka. They are designed by "bob" 

ODDS & ENDS - Music and Lyrics by  ryo(supercell) 

Finally we've reached the "Brand New Songs" category. Providing the opening theme song for "Hatsune Miku Project Diva ~f~" is "ryo from supercell" famous for his songs such as "Love is War" and "World is Mine", ryo and Kz have been providing brand new songs for the project diva games for a while. It will be interesting to see more of these songs. 

Weekender Girl - Music and Lyrics by Kz and Hachioji P 

Collaborating together, Kz (formally Kz from livetune) and Hachioji P (famous for "Electric Love" and "Sweet Devil") have come up with new song "Weekender Girl" We can except great things from these two. 


Miku's costume for this song is "Pansy" designed by TNSK

Soine Kareshi Hitsuji app to be released! Android Soine Kareshi?

Fans of both the Soine Kareshi application and Ryotaro Okiayu can rejoice! One of the spin off series of the "Soine Kareshi" Series "Soine Hitsuji" will get its own app! VisualWorks combines the Soine Kareshi (Sleepy-Time Boyfriend) Situation CD series with the interaction of smart phones. With the main "Weekend version" ending, VisualWorks has added two spin off series.

We talked about the VitaminX one in a previous post but announced before that was the app version of "Soine Hitsuji" (Sleepy-Time Sheep) The first CD which will be released on June 29th, Is "Yasuomi". He is voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu. There is no date on when his app will be release. The announcement came on Visualwork's official "Soine" Twitter. 

Tweet reads: [INFO] (Soine hitsuji CD) application plans are in order! The first one will be Ryotaro Okiayu's "Yasuomi".  The close day of its release has been decided! The "Soine Kareshi" series will still continue!!

Also on Visualwork's twitter was an announcment a month back that they would be developing the "Sleepy-Time Boyfriend" Android version. As of last night, VisualWorks tweeted saying the app was 97% complete. It had no issues on any of the machines it was tested on. They also posted a picture of the app on various Android phones.

Tweet reads: Android version of Soine Kareshi (Weekend Soine Kareshi CD ver) is now 97% complete. Please wait just a little longer. We are now checking for any problems but there are none to report! 

The android version comes at a special request from the next release's voice source, Toshiyuki Morikawa. For reasons unknown, he pressed for the release of an Android version of the app. The news doesn't come as a surprise to many of the Japanese fans as the VisualWorks twitter account was spammed with requests for an Android version daily. While the development of the Android is good news for Droid users, it has pushed back the release of "Masaya' almost two weeks. 

Sweet Dreams with you and your Sleepy-Time Boyfriend!

    

Sengoku BASARA HD collection

Hey there gamers! Sorry for the delay. Real life never wants to let me rest! Anyways. Here are some new updates on Sengoku BASARA HD collection!

Following Capcom's announcement that HD collection would be released, they announced available only to E-Capcom members would be the "BSR48" Drama CD.

BSR48 (a play off of AKB48's name) was a popularity poll. Only people who purchased "Sengoku BASARA 3 UTAGE" could vote. It was decided that the top seven winners and randomly the person in position 20 would be part of a special drama CD. The top winner would get a special "Image video" and a "Web Commercial" The results can be seen on the BSR48 web page. (see link below) Capcom have announced that the "Image Video" will be released as part of the E-Capcom pre-order goods. That being said, the winner is Masamune Date (with an over 2000 vote lead from the 2nd place). On the HD collection home page images of the Image Video have been posted along with a small explanation of the BRS48 campaign.

Within the last week, Capcom has announced more updates regarding HD Collection. Specifically a new trailer that highlights some of the features. Not only does the video show off some clips of the improved graphics and the new "Abington Boys School" song "WE aRE", but it shows a previously unannounced "Tag team" mode.

The newest (and final update for this post) is a screen shot of HD collections menu. Highlighted in the menu shot is a new feature. Called "All Commanders & Battlefield Free Mode". All* stages and missions can be played in one free mode. *Apparently there are a few exceptions.

This free mode allows you to play any stage from any of the games without having to go into each individual game to select the mode. The limitations to this are stated that you can only play the mode with characters from that game. (I.E You cannot play a Sengoku BASARA [1] stage with Hanbei). However, all characters* can play the "Sengoku BASARA 2 Heroes" battle stages. *Matsunaga is still unplayable.

Well that about wraps it up for this post. Look forward to more updates as they come. Remember, even if you cannot purchase the E-Capcom special items you can still purchase the games through web pages such as "Play-Asia" or "HMV Japan"

LINKS:
BSR48 Results - (NAMES ARE IN KANJI ONLY) http://www.capcom.co.jp/basara/BSR48/ranking.html

Sengoku BASARA HD Collection Home Page - http://www.capcom.co.jp/basara-hd/index.html

Direct link to the HD Collection trailer - http://www.capcom.co.jp/basara-hd/trailer.html