Women power China's $1bn romance gaming market
WATARU SUZUKI
SHANGHAI -- A Chinese mobile game featuring a female hunter character who balances protecting the world from invaders with romantic interactions has become an instant hit since its release in January 2024, prompting developers to double down on the 8 billion yuan ($1 billion) female-oriented gaming industry.
Thanks to its realistic 3D graphics and a growing fan base, Love and Deepspace generated nearly $400 million in revenue in 2024, according to data provider Sensor Tower, for its creator, Shanghai-based Papergames. The company has begun exporting the game overseas by hiring prominent voice actors in markets including Japan.
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SoraNews24
a day ago
- SoraNews24
Gacha capsule toy machine you control with your brain/prayers created in Japan【Video】
Designers want Mushin Gacha in arcades, anime specialty shops, and character cafes. We're in a gacha capsule toy golden age in Japan right now, with an unprecedented variety of items available to suit just about every interest and aesthetic taste. But while toy designers are constantly coming up with new prizes to stock gacha machines with, the purchasing process has changed very little: toss your coins into the slot, then turn the handle until a capsule drops for you. But what if instead of turning the handle with your hand, you could turn it with your mind? That's the idea behind Mushin Gacha, a new type of capsule toy machine dreamed up by Tokyo-based neurotechnology and AI research/solutions company Araya. 'Mushin' has a number of possible meanings, but among them are associations with innocence or desire, and those are aspects of the mental state you must achieve to get their Mushin Gacha prize capsule to drop. ▼ Mushin Gacha demonstration video Users don an electroencephalograph head sensor which measures their brain's current level of alpha waves, said to be produced when the mind is in a relaxed state. At the same time, a camera equipped with AI image recognition software will check to see if you've got your hands clasped in a 'please give me a gacha capsule' pose. Fulfilling those conditions, showing an unabashed genuine desire, will activate the Mushin Gacha's motor, causing it to drop your prize capsule. ▼ If you're wondering why it needs a crank at all, it's because gacha is the onomatopoeia of the clunking noise it makes as it turns, so it'd be weird to make a gacha machine without that traditional aural factor, even if it's so cutting-edge you operate it with your brain. Araya says it hopes to install Mushin Gacha machines at video game arcades, anime/manga specialty stores, shopping center game corners, fan events, popup stores, and themed cafes. The preview images show a 'Please insert coin' message on the screen, but it's not clear what happens if you don't achieve the right combination of prayer pose and alpha waves right away. Theoretically, operators could set it to so that players have an unlimited amount of time/number of chances to keep trying in, or perhaps could set a time limit after which no prize is won and the player needs to step aside and let someone else have a turn. Although the unit in the preview video is made out of cardboard, it feels like a safe bet that that's just a pre-production mockup, and that a more substantial and high-tech housing is in the works, and perhaps something Araya has in the works for its upcoming demonstration for visitors at this year's Tokyo Game Show in September. Source: PR Times Top image: PR Times Insert images: YouTube/Araya Inc., PR Times ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
3 days ago
Sony to Acquire 2.5 Pct Stake in Bandai Namco
News from Japan Jul 25, 2025 13:55 (JST) Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese technology conglomerate Sony Group Corp. has struck an alliance deal with Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. to acquire a 2.5 pct stake in Bandai Namco to capitalize on anime and manga assets held by the game and toy group. Under the deal, announced Thursday, Sony Group will purchase 16 million outstanding Bandai Namco shares from existing owners for some 68 billion yen. The capital tie-up focuses particularly on creating and distributing video content based on anime-related intellectual properties held by Bandai Namco. But the two companies will also work on experiential entertainment and fresh property development. Bandai Namco has a wide range of intellectual assets, from the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series to the "Tamagotchi" handy digital pet-raising gadget. Sony Group, for its part, is strengthening game and anime operations, which currently include Aniplex Inc., a Tokyo-based anime studio known for the "Demon Slayer" series. This year, the group also became the largest shareholder in major publisher Kadokawa Corp. with abundant intellectual properties. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Kyodo News
3 days ago
- Kyodo News
National Ballet of Japan holds 1st overseas show in 16 yrs in London
LONDON - The National Ballet of Japan gave its first overseas performance in 16 years in London on Thursday, with Miyako Yoshida, formerly a principal dancer in the city's Royal Ballet, directing the presentation. The five-show production of "Giselle" also marks the British debut of the dance company under the New National Theatre, Tokyo, as well as the first show it has organized outside the country. The Japanese troupe last performed overseas in 2009, when it appeared in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian government. The opening night was a roaring success, with the over 2,000-strong audience at the 19th century Royal Opera House erupting into rapturous applause as dancers took to the stage for a curtain call. Speaking with Kyodo News after the show, Yoshida said, "The dancers all did really was something special about the atmosphere in the concert hall tonight." "I'm really pleased everyone danced so energetically," she added. Yoshida initially came to study ballet in Britain in 1983 and went on to become the first-ever Japanese principal dancer in the Royal Ballet in 1995. In a media preview showcase on Tuesday, she said of the Japanese ballet founded in 1997, "We are still a young company, so I just want the world to know us." "I hope this performance will become a bridge between the U.K. and Japan." In the lead-up to the sold-out event, the Tokyo-based troupe's visit to Britain has generated significant interest and media attention. Reacting to the performance, a 52-year-old ballet fan from London said, "I think the Japanese ballet dancers are very, very precise. They're so in time it's sort of perfect." "I thought it was beautiful, I thought it was amazing." Principal dancer Yui Yonezawa expressed her happiness at being able to dance in London. The ballerina was hospitalized in the middle of last year before undergoing an eight-hour surgery in November that seemed to leave her hopes of performing in jeopardy. Speaking to journalists, she said, "I cherish even simple moments, and just living in this moment is such a wonderful thing." Yonezawa plays the titular heroine Giselle, a peasant girl who dies after discovering her lover's identity and finds herself in the realm of ghosts.
