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Japan is at it again, trying its best to have mecha out as soon as possible. This time they are not going the giant robot route, a la Gundam, but are once again pursuing the power suit, a la Patlabor. Engineers at Kyoto’s Activelink Co. have developed this little beauty you see above, called the Dual-Arm Power Amplification Robot, or DAPAR for short. Sure it needs a better name but it’s nearly fully movable and amplifies both arm and leg movement, enabling you to lift over 90 kg without a hitch.

Yeah, it cant hurl armored vehicles like pillows just yet but they are aiming to make it fully mobile and have it in practical use by 2015. Add a couple of extra years and they’ll have the DAPAR swinging an oversized sword and firing an enormous sub-machine gun.

[Boing Boing]

It appears the PS3 version of Ninja Gaiden 2 will feature motion control. More specifically, it will include motion controlled breasts. Now, given the demographic of anyone who buys any Team Ninja game, this is a killer feature. And as such, the trailer above advertises it in the most honest way possible.

Remember those extremely excited families on Wii game trailers? Yeah we all know that’s over-acted. But this? This is exactly what will happen.

Let’s get ready for the weekend with a nice cup of WTF, shall we? Ah, I’ve got the perfect video for you, please enjoy!

Confused enough yet? These are ads for Mameshiba, a small kind of cell phone strap line of mascots. They are small bean-dogs which always seem to have some disheartening trivia for you. The name is a play on words involving dogs and a word for small and bean, we wont get into it as it’s not really funny unless you are Japanese and. You’ve got polite cute dog-beans eager to ruin your day while a dramatic sad song plays in the background, I don’t think an explanation is needed, I don’t think you really want an explanation. It’s perfect just the way it is.

[Curiosite]

Comic-Con 2009 is over and boy it was a blast! All Through the week I’ll be posting footage and galleries from the event but for now here’s this little teaser. A couple of facts from the video:

• It doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t.
• It’s still better than Dragon Ball: Evolution.

You can even watch it on HD on YouTube. Expect more during the week!

Somebody at Oasis clearly knows what appeals to young otaku men. They ticked every box for this commercial. 2 girls on a bed in netball outfits: check. One girl feeding the other a tasty beverage as she has her mouth suggestively wide open: check. Japanese dialogue: check. Japanese girls screaming “No!” in high pitched voices: check. A city being attacked by sonic rays: check. A J-Pop jingle: check, check, check! All that was missing was some up-skirt panty shots, a school uniform, and a bit of para para.

TV commercials in the UK pretty much suck. It goes in phases. Sometimes you’ll get lots of cool adverts air at a given time, then you’ll get a load of shit ones. So this definitely stuck out to me and my mates when it aired. It threw me through a loop. Because I never though an advert so Japanesey would air on UK TV. Who knows! It could be a new trend thing. Especially as this comes after the Mikado advert.

For those who want to see more of the girls in the ad, you can watch them giggling and mucking about on a laptop here. And if you’ve got a webcam and mic setup on your desktops or laptops, you can play the official Rubberduckzilla games here.

While Japan is obviously getting ready for the come of our future robot overlords, by ushering the come of said overlords themselves, then teaching the future generations how to defend against it with shows like Gundam and Macross.

However Japan is also getting their young ones ready for a bunch of other impending emergencies, like the Zombie apocalypse. Like in the video above when a TV show subjects 3 little kids to a simulated Zombie attack, complete with setting up traps, barricading and melee combat. These kids will outlive us all when the undead rise.

In all seriousness though, as hilarious as this is, if it were done anywhere else besides Japan people would be outraged at the trauma they are causing these kids. Myself? I think that kid at the end is now more of a man now that all of us could ever hope to be.

[xorsyst]

Games imitate life but sometimes life imitates games as well. In this video AZO, a Parkour runner shows us some runs inspired by Mirror’s Edge. Its amazing seeing those stunts in real life, much more intense than in game form. Maybe one day games like Mirror’s Edge will be as exciting, in the meantime enjoy this inspiring video of the potential of the human body, its making me almost want to get off my ass… almost.

Yeah I’ll just stay here for a bit longer.

 Lawrence Lessig is right, we truly live in the age of remix, sweet and utterly awesome remixes. Like this rendition of Corridors of Time, the theme song for Zeal Kingdom in Chrono Trigger, which is beautifully arranged and sung by Gacktpoid. Gackpoid is by itself a remix of the voice of Gackt. There’s so much remixing here that its not even funny, just awesome.

So again, enjoy some of Yasunori Mitsuda ‘s work, on an electronic arrangement, with vocals added by anonymous, sung by the disembodied voice of a J-rock idol. Is that convoluted enough for you?

Its true that not all bizarre comercials featuring cosplay have to be Japanese, but they will sure as hell be Japanese inspired. Like this deliciously weird ad for Hello Kitty MAC Cosmetics featuring a goth-loli-ish model in a dream sequel, where she follows a black cat through a conceptual uterus only to be gang raped via interpretative dance by a bunch of men in black Hello Kitty S&M attire.

I cant even begin to imagine how the sold Sanrio on this idea. Maybe its just The Mouthless One subtly telling us how she will rape us all, and how we’ll still love it.

By the way, Hello Kitty fans, if you want that black leather Hello Kitty plush, it actually exists.

Gaming is serious business at Berkeley, this semester they are teaching a course on Starcraft Theory and Strategy. The first lecture of the semester is now online and as you can see its pretty damn bizarre. This is the future, where gaming and academics are one in the same.

The course facilitator, Alan Feng, introduces the class and tells the class how Starcraft is life and how through it they will study everything from war to advanced math to economics. He then introduces a couple of pro Starcraft players. The course has homework that includes watching famous replays, doing math and reading war philosophy. There’s even a lab on weekends to practice what’s seen in class. A LAN Party every weekend? For School? Harsh education my friends, hard education.

[Starcraft Theory and Strategy]