I’ve debated building a shrine to the NES for years now, but I’ve never actually gotten around to acting on the idea. Spotted over at the Super Potato retro gaming store in Akihabara, Japan, this 7-foot tall throne was made entirely out of Famicom cartridges, creating an apt shrine for the gamer who demands to be the king of his own domain.
This fall 7-Eleven will be rolling out a nationwide promotion featuring Japan’s favorite stop-animation monster, Domo. Everything from cups, to straws, to hot dog cases, even Domo-themed merchandise will be available at 7-Eleven.
It literally looks like Domo came inside of 7-Eleven’s vag and reproduced a bunch of little Domo/7-Eleven offspring. The depth of this promotion is pure madness.
No, that isn’t just the work of some handy alliteration. Although, this post does happen to be brought to you by the letter “R.”
The Fuamen Ramen restaurant in Nagoya, Japan is manned by a team of robots who expertly prepare the customers’ bowls of noodles. The owner claims that the benefits of using robots are the consistency of taste and the accuracy in their timing. Just wait until they start adding nuts and bolts to the recipe. Check out a vid and the finished product after the jump.
Holy cow, Tails! That’s more alliteration than a hooker in Amsterdam!
Peep this fucking sweet Sonic The Hedgehog t-shirt. It’s Sonic and he’s squeezed into a box tighter than a Thai hooker. No, but really, it’s a promo t-shirt being handed out in Japan to promote the upcoming title Sonic Chronicles. Yeah, people got this shirt FOR FREE. Way jealous.
Why do things like this need to be created? It’s a gadget from the dreams of your 6-year-old sister. Just look at that pose. This is one Gundam in dire need of a tea party, followed promptly by an ass whooping.
If you’re a girl and you ask your Grandma for a Gundam for Christmas, guaranteed you’d get something like this.
Japanese students lucky enough to snatch a free iPhone 3G from their school shouldn’t get too excited just yet. Your universities mean serious business. The iPhone might just be a smart ploy to get your asses in school.
A Japanese university has started to employ a special school attendance app which keeps track of whether you show your face in class or not. So not only are the iPhones to be used for studying purposes, but you can bet your academic arse that officials will be checking GPS records as well. So, you know what you do? Switch off with your friend, once every other day, give your friend your phone to bring to class. Let them deal with it.
Either the Japanese government has something against tripod manufacturers or the photography industry has been pulling the wool over our eyes for a century. A group of Japanese scientists from Nishi Lab of the University of Electrocommunications have determined that photos taken with cameras that are anchored to a tripod typically have more camera shake.
A new tool that determines camera shake by measuring the effects of shutter vibration and mirror slap has concluded that SLR cameras on a tripod can actually shake more than when handled manually. The shaking can lower resolution by as much as 75%. You’d expect a statistic like this with a DIY tripod, but a real piece of gear?
Big in Japan. That’s what the press should be calling the Playstation 3. Seems for the month of March, Nintendo’s fantasy box of magic couldn’t fend off the brute,building strength of Sony’s Playstation 3. According to Reuters, “domestic sales of the PS3 came to 146,948 units in the five weeks through March 29, compared with 99,335 units of the Wii and 43,172 units of Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360.”
So this isn’t even a war of the hundreds or thousands at this point. The PS3 beat out the Wii by almost a third. With games like Killzone 2 and Prototype, perhaps gamers are starting to pick better games over gimmicky control schemes. Just sayin’!
We’ve all seen this little brown creature strewn across the web and thrown onto merchandise, but do you actually know who this character is? In reality, Domo made his debut as the mascot for the Japanese television station NHK. From there, Domo moved into the American market via Nickelodeon, where he appeared in a bunch of short skits, which eventually led to an ad campaign with Target stores and the rest is history.
But despite Domo’s back story, you found him adorable even before you knew about his rise to fame. Coming soon to Urban Collector is an awesome plush doll of the most famous little brown monster on the web (at least the most famous little brown monster not featured in an XXX film). You can pre-order your own now or wait until they’re available in June 2009.
The world just got a little creepier.
Honda, the company that made your sister’s ‘02 Civic, has developed a way to transmit brain signals to a robot, allowing humans to control robots remotely. Honda has “read patterns of electric currents on a person’s scalp as well as changes in cerebral blood flow when a person thinks about four simple movements – moving the right hand, moving the left hand, running and eating.” What is this technology? Is it safe? Are there going to be repercussions? Will Skynet come alive next year?
During a presentation in Japan, a man wearing a helmet with a bunch of cables connected to it was able to think about moving his right hand and like clockwork, the ASIMO on stage lifted its hand. This could pave the way for huge advances in medical technology for those with disabilities. Imagine not being able to walk and all of a sudden, you can think about walking and your robotic legs will do just that. Or we could all get killed by a bunch of Honda-branded robots. It’s your call.
