As I confirmed earlier this month, Sony has officially announced the PS3 Slim during their Gamescom keynote. The Slim is 33% thinner and 36% lighter and is identical in functionality to current models.
The console will be released on the first week of September for $299 US 299 Euro and 29,990 yen.
As AnimeNews.biz previously reported in January, the 2 DVD set is based on a popular manga series by Masakazu Katsura, published domestically by VIZ Media under its Shonen Jump Advanced imprint. The original I”s animated series, as well as the six-episode follow-up called I”s PURE, will be included this new DVD box set for $29.99 US and $39.99 CAN.
Following up on the Ikkitousen announcement, Funimation has announced in a press release that it has launched a new video site currently in beta that adds many features common to other video sites such as YouTube.
The site will host full series such as Darker Than Black, Guyver, Black Blood Brothers, Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino, Jyu-Oh-Sei, Negima 2, Ouran High School Host Club, Romeo X Juliet, Shigurui: Death Frenzy, STRAIN: Strategic Armored Infantry and others with new episodes being added each week, with some shows (such as Shikabane Hime) having the latest episode from the Japanese TV airing available for viewing.
The additional content besides full series includes trailers for upcoming Funimation series as well as other types of videos such as behind-the-scenes, interviews, and other related content.
Features being added in the site include a higher-quality Flash-based video player, subtitled and English-dubbed episodes, same-screen video playback, without a pop-up window, expandable video player, lower lights feature to put focus on the video, and the ability to share video links.
Since site is Flash-based, this does enable the ability to download the episodes via the many stream capture tools available online. The majority of videos are encoded in the VP6 codec at a 768K video bitrate with a resolution of 864×480 at a frame rate of 24fps progressive with 2 channel AAC-LC audio and feature a prominent watermark on the lower right-hand corner.
The site is expected to officially exit Beta status in the Spring of 2009.
The story centers around the Warring States Era and a young man named Raizo who has a horn growing out of his head living as an outcast, until the chance rescue of a female ninja named Kagari leads him to his destiny as the descendant of a feudal family next in line to take the throne with a cast of female ninja helping him along the way.
The series is ongoing in Japan with eight collected volumes and marks the American debut of author Hosana Tanaka. In related news, the publisher has also announced Moyashimon, Maid War Chronicle, and Amefurashi for release during 2009.
Funimation has announced preliminary details for a license acquisition and week-long announcement event beginning on Monday December 22nd all the way to New Year’s Eve.
Every day for ten days, Funimation will announce a new license until the last day with full details on cast lists, release format, and pricing being made available for each show.
This ties into the latest round of C&D announcements made by the publisher recently, with the biggest properties in Soul Eater, Eva rebuild 1.01, Spice and Wolf, Mushi Uta, My Bride is a Mermaid, Katekeyo Hitman Reborn, Nabari no Ou, and Atashin ‘chi among other rumored acquisitions such as Vandread, Gankutsuou: The Count Of Monte Cristo, Last Exile and Ikki Tousen thanks to the association with Geneon, and Oh! Edo Rocket as one of the brand new licenses.
While no hints were given, the last part of their long-running source code storyline found in the source code of the Bandai Entertainment landing page last week revealed cryptically that the last acquisition would require three additional partners.
What this means is that the last show to be announced for the year may be one of the most anticipated in Macross Frontier, which has its international rights split between Harmony Gold, Big West, and Bandai Visual. This would also tie into rumored plans to debut the the US version of Bandai Channel over a Flash-based platform instead of relying on the Windows Media platform that Bandai uses in Japan according to the last pieces of source code before the end of the campaign this week.
Viz has announced in a press release that it will launch a one-off ‘posterzine” publication based on the successful Bleach franchise on December 2nd with pre-order currently underway at an MSRP of $9.99.
The issue will feature 2 exclusive posters animated by Studio Pierrot, 2 sticker sheets, and an iTunes Gift Card redeemable for Episode 59 of the bespoke anime series along with an interview by creator Tite Kubo.
Bleach follows the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a fifteen-year old student with the ability to see ghosts. His fate takes an extraordinary turn when he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper who shows up at Ichigo’s house on the trail of a Hollow, a malevolent lost soul.
Drawn to Ichigo’s high level of spiritual energy, the Hollow attacks Ichigo and his family, and Rukia steps in to help but is injured and unable to fight.
As a last resort, Rukia decides to transfer part of her Soul Reaper powers to Ichigo. Ichigo, now a full-fledged Soul Reaper, and Rukia join together to face the challenges that lie ahead.
Fox had originally filed litigation earlier this year in order to prevent the premature cancellation of the programming block with 4Kids paying an undisclosed amount in a settlement. The block was a staple of the network since it began in 2002 under the name FoxBox with shows such as Sonic X, Tokyo Mew Mew, and F-Zero. 4Kids also announced that it has renegotiated its long reaching Yu-Gi-Oh license including broadcast, merchandise and video rights to 2015.
Earnings for the licensor grew slightly from $49.4 million up from $39 million last year, with the increase being offset by the increase in the selling, general, administrative expenses, and cost of goods sold in the Trading Card and Game Distribution businesses, coupled with decreased licensing and broadcast revenues with year to-date losses going up from $8.9 million in 2007 to $17.2 million this quarter.
The company is projecting a return to profitability by the end of the year via the increase in revenues from licensing, broadcast, and general sales from the various 4Kids properties such as the internally developed Chaotic trading card game/television series, and the SEGA developed Dinosaur King.
The DVD release is expected to follow the end of the TV broadcast in 2009. In related news the companion web page for the show has been launched with story and character information as well as a trailer.
