Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Making of PlayStation
above you see the development of PS logo, I always interest to see any "the making of" stuffs, where is the original idea and how thge final design was developed etc. Edge Magazine has an retrospective up for the PlayStation, from its early break with Nintendo to its current struggles to for market share; cool logo and controller prototypes, etc. a interesting article.
Read the full article at edge-online
Monday, April 27, 2009
Two minutes of 9 online
Two minutes exclusive clips of "9" is now available on MTV.com
Based on Shane Acker’s Academy Award-nominated short film of the same name, “9” follows nine ragdolls on a quest to save humanity in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Featuring the voice talents of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau and Christopher Plummer, “9” hits theaters in limited release on September 9 (in other words, 9/9/09).
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tezuka Manga in iphone!
The software distributor Yappa has announced on Monday that it is releasing an application for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch mobile devices to distribute its Weekly Tezuka Osamu Magazine. Every Tuesday, the application will update with about 100 pages from Mighty Atom (Astro Boy), Phoenix, and other titles from the manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka. The application and the manga installments themselves are in Japanese, but the application is available in Apple's App Store outside Japan. The application and the weekly issues will be free for six months. A version compatible with Microsoft Windows Mobile devices is planned for the future.
The first weekly issue includes manga installments of Mighty Atom, Phoenix, Black Jack, Dororo, and Under the Air. The next issue will go online on April 21 with Princess Knight, The Crater, and Rainbow Parakeet. Despite Tezuka Productions' recent efforts to add color to its founder's manga in free digital form, Yappa's initial manga lineup is in the original black-and-white except for the "cover" pages. The online magazine is part of the ongoing 80th anniversary celebration of Tezuka's birth. Dark Horse Comics, Vertical, and Viz Media have all released Tezuka's manga in North America. IMAGI's computer-animated film adaptation of the Astro Boy manga is slated to open in North America on October 23.
Source: TezukaOsamu LiveJournal via Yappa.co.jp
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Old Sketches of G1
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Video Game Controllers Evolution
This neat illustration, we can see how the Video Game Controllers Evolution hands on. From dates back to the Tandy and Atari 2600 Video Game Console Controllers and continues through the years passing the NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Playstation and finally ends on the Wiimote.
It is amazing to see how Video Game consoles have evolved simply by the use of the controllers. What once was only a Controller with only a stick and a button has grown to the Nintendo Wiimote with a Directional Pad, 3 Buttons, 4 Options, 1 Shoulder, and is Motion Sensitive, including an additional Stick, 2 Shoulders which is also Motion Sensitive. What will be next?
source: Offworld
Giant Beetle Robot
This giant beetle robot named "Kabutom MX-03" was designed and built by a Japanese engineer, Takahashi in Ibaraki. He has taken his robotics hobby to the extreme and created a giant beetle mech that can be seen in the video above. This is no small project; with the final mech measuring 11 meters in length and weighing 15 tons. It has taken engineer Takahashi-san 11 years to complete as he started building it in 1998.
The actual design is based on a rhinoceros beetle and is remote controlled meaning Takahashi-san could recreate one of the many “giant creature attacks city” type films if he so wished. From watching the video though, the slow, limited movement of the machine would make it easy to overpower. It does have a large interior space though, making it viable as a transportation device; albeit for a very slow journey.
This is amazing, isn't it? You should have a great passion and a lot of enthusiasm to continue. I admire him!
Read more at CrunchGear and AltJapan, more pictures are also available at the Japanese Home Design Weblog
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
T4 Concept Art
see more concept art here
Those are beautiful pieces, however i am not that impressed, maybe all the design and direction is pretty expected...
Simpsons Stamp
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Fun Tee Concepts by Glennz Tees
FAB Mr President
Robocop's new Battle
Spun Dry
Plastic Surgery
see more here
Friday, April 10, 2009
Papershapers Show
Check this one out if your in the LA area! Papershapers, curated by Giant Robot opens on April 11 at Scion’s 4,500 square foot Installation L.A. Gallery in Culver City. Papershapers is a group show featuring ten artists who work with paper-not "on paper." The exhibition will feature works that are cut, torn, folded, and sewn into unique creations. Shin Tanaka will be making a rare U.S. appearance at the opening and will be on hand to show original pieces and fold paper with attendees! The opening reception takes place April 11, 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. and will run through May 2 at the Scion Installation L.A. Gallery, 3521 Helms Ave. (at National), Culver City, Calif. 90232.
see more fun paper art here
Alex Ross's Gatchaman Illustration
there are two works i love the most:
1. Kingdom Comes
2. Paintings for Gatchaman DVD
Alex Ross's Gatchaman illustration played a very improtant role to re-introduce Gatchaman to US, his traditional watercolor style perfectly match the retro feeling of Gatchaman. I try to put them together to share with you as below:
The above Gatchaman painting for the first Collectors Box was produced by Alex Ross (Kingdom Come, Marvels) , and Ross's artwork adorns each of the 18 individual DVD releases in 2005
“I'm really glad to be part of this project,” said Alex Ross, who may well be America's #1 Gatchaman fan. “Battle of the Planets was a strong influence on my career. The great character designs, the epic scope of the storylines, the team concept – it's all there. But the original Gatchaman has so much more to it that got cut out of the American broadcast version. There's the violence, of course, which was toned down a lot. But also the characters were richer, and the way they interacted with each other wasn't so black and white. I think fans seeing Gatchaman for the first time may be surprised just how over the top it is!”
◎ more images at Alex Ross Official Website
◎ Alex Ross talks about Gatchaman/Battle of Planets
◎ Alex Ross at wikipedia
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
AstroBoy Japan Official Website Launched
The Japanese distributor Kadokawa Entertainment of ASTRO BOY (ATOM) launched the official movie website on April 07 which is birthday of Astro.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Catalogue Tree
Joris Maltha and Daniel Gross are a duo of designers that make up Catalogtree, a company which likes to highlight information about life that would probably otherwise go unseen. Through their designs they visually represent odd facts like the largest urban areas by population or the top 1000 frequently occurring American surnames split in the six most common population groups.
Last year they did the two visualizations above for SEED Magazine, featuring the amount of parking tickets incurred by foreign diplomats and an idea for a genetic profile card using chromosomal positions. Really neat stuff, be sure to click here for more info.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Yhee!! Shocker
嘰嘰~! 按肚發聲~!
発売日 | 09年04月未定 | |
原作名 | 仮面ライダー | |
コピーライト | (C)石森プロ・東映 | |
製品仕様 | サイズ:約18cm 素材:ATBC-PVC | |
解説 | お腹を押すと音が出る!! | |
標準小売価格 | 1,554円(税込) |
How to Train Your Dragon
"How to Train Your Dragon" is an adventure comedy set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. The story centers around a scrawny teenager, who lives on the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. Initiation is coming, and this is his one chance to prove his worthiness to his tribe and father. But when he encounters, and ultimately befriends, an injured dragon, his world is turned upside down.
Prefect Transform Getter Robo Renewal Version
Studio HAIF EYE
EX Gohkin GetterRobo
Saturday, April 04, 2009
轉:「日本動畫推移與國際比較」
日本動畫協會在三月底的年度盛事「2009 日本國際動畫展」中展出了一系列關於日本國內動畫與外國比較的統計數字,而日前該單位也於官方網站上公開了這份資料,以下即為日本動畫協會所公佈之「日本動畫推移與國際比較」的整理報導:
◆ 日本動畫電影數量以及票房收入曲線(1958 年~2008 年)
2008 年內日本出品的動畫電影除了《哆啦 A 夢》、《蠟筆小新》、《名偵探柯南》、《神奇寶貝》等過去每年幾乎固定會推出電影版作品的動畫之外,最熱門的動畫電影就要算是宮崎駿的《崖上的波妞》了。
當初許多評論都認為《崖上的波妞》主要是以兒童為取向的作品,因此在票房的收入上不太被看好,不過在該片上映後卻大大地推翻了這些預測。雖然還未能超過《神隱少女》的 304 億日圓(2001 年日本電影票房冠軍)、以及《霍爾的移動城堡》的 200 億日圓(2004 年日本電影票房冠軍)的票房數字,不過就故事內容、角色特性以及作品特質來說,《崖上的波妞》或許比較相似於《龍貓》一樣,會成為一部長期受到歡迎的作品。
日本最初的 30 分鐘帶狀電視動畫《原子小金剛》於 1963 年問世,在之後日本的電視動畫逐漸的發展蓬勃起來。日本特有的「深夜動畫時段」作品在 1990 年代後半開始極速的增加,而在進入 2000 年之後依舊沒有改變這個成長方向,並且在 2006 年達到至今作品放映紀錄的最高峰。
雖然相較之下 07、08 年的作品數量有相繼減少的趨勢,但這究竟是代表動畫公司的製作量減少,或者這才是回歸到正常的市場需求量,這些都還需要再持續觀察幾年才有辦法作出評斷。
在日本的動畫「作品時數」統計中,是以每年年初至年底推出的所有動畫為對象(包含 DVD 內的影像特典以及電視未播放的部分),這個部分是在 2006 年達到了顛峰。而這裡也將以孩童為主的「一般時段(5 點至 23 點)」,和以年紀稍長的觀眾為取向的「深夜時段(23 點至 5 點)」分別比較。
而將 08 年與 07 年的數據比較後,可發現在「一般時段」的作品時數大約減少了 5000 分鐘左右,換算後約為 169 集的 30 分鐘作品。而在「深夜時段」的部分則是減少了 9500 分鐘,換算後約為 317 集 30 分鐘的作品。
此外,雖然在「深夜時段」的誕生後 1990 年代的動畫作品開始急速增加,但相對的在少子化的影響下,「一般時段」的動畫就有逐漸減少的趨勢,因此到了後期的作品時數總合就可說是跟著深夜時段的動畫數量在變動。
由於目前 2008 年的統計數字尚未正式出爐,因此無法下定論,但對於動畫產業來說,2008 年最大的影響力可說是來自於「藍光光碟」的誕生。
回想當年的影像媒體自錄影帶到 DVD 的推移可說是非常的成功,而目前已可見像是《超時空要塞 Frontier》、《CODE GEASS 反叛的魯路修 R2》的藍光光碟初回出貨量就達到五萬張左右,因此從今年開始到明年藍光光碟是否能普及化是非常重要的關鍵期。
近年來在日本急遽成長的還包括了網路和手機動畫作品,雖然自 05 到 06 年有十足的上升,但卻在進入 07 年時減緩了成長。雖然目前 2008 年的數據還未公佈,不過大致上可看出目前網路和手機也成為了一個新的發表主流平台。
雖然日本的動畫角色週邊商品市場自 2002 年大大衰退,但在之後以非常緩慢的速度爬升,並且在 07 年恢復到和 02 年一樣的水平。而若仔細觀察這幾年來銷售前排名的話,也可以發現幾乎都是幾個固定的角色。
這份圖表是依照「中國廣電總局」所發布的資料作為依據,其中帶狀式動畫以及電影版動畫等皆被計算在裡面,但是並不是所有作品都有被中國當局允許進行播映。
自 1995 年世界首支 3D CG 動畫問世至今,現今的美國好萊塢可說是幾乎沒有在製作 2D 的平面動畫電影,而依照圖表趨勢可觀察到,今後似乎也將會持續朝著這個方向演進。觀察圖表可發現,美國在 3D 動畫的製作數量上有大幅的成長,而除了以往幾乎獨佔市場的皮克斯動畫和夢工廠之外,也有不少其它的電影公司逐漸地打入這塊領域。
此外,也統計了 2007 年 12 月至 2008 年 11 月為止,日本、美國以及其它國家分別針對「兒童」所製作的動畫作品數目,日本是 55 部作品,美國則製作了高達 351 部的作品,其餘國家的總合則為 41 部,在這裡或許也能觀察到各自對於「動畫」的定位也說不定。
文章轉載自:《巴哈姆特》