Sega gauging interest in localized Hatsune Miku for PS3
Hatsune Miku is something of a cultural icon in Japan, starring robotic anime girls singing songs. And Sega is looking to bring it to Western audiences.
Hatsune Miku is something of a cultural icon in Japan. Published by Sega, the franchise stars "Vocaloids," robotic music synthesizers that typically take the form of attractive anime females. The games typically play like other rhythm games, with players pressing a series of buttons timed to a beat. The franchise has been so popular that it has spawned five games and multiple spin-offs, amassing over a million sales in Japan.
And Sega is looking to bring it to Western audiences.
The company is asking its Facebook fans to "Like" this image to "support bringing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F for PS3 to North America and Europe." According to Siliconera, Project Diva F is the PS3 version of a PS Vita game, upgraded with additional songs and "modules."
Since Sega published this image seven hours ago, it's already received over 8000 "Likes" and 6000 "Shares." While it's unlikely Sega will be able to replicate Hatsune Miku's breakout success in the West as it has in Japan, it's likely to find a niche audience--much like it has with its Yakuza series.
Here's a video of the game in action:
-
Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Sega gauging interest in localized Hatsune Miku for PS3.
Hatsune Miku is something of a cultural icon in Japan, starring robotic anime girls singing songs. And Sega is looking to bring it to Western audiences.-
-
-
I remember seeing a bunch of the videos from the "Project Diva Extend" release for the Vita a couple years ago:
Melody (features a Fei-Yen module from Virtual On): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-268BWypmXE
Megurine Luka (an "older", deeper-sounding Vocaloid) singing "Luka Luka Night Fever": http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YbDo8lczgEY
"Ura Omote Lovers": http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vIdsE4Fuozs
Would I get Project Diva F? ....probably not, but I think it would be really awesome to have a localized version with synchronized English subtitles. Most of the Vocaloids (meaning the phoneme libraries) are Japanese-only, since Japanese has far less phonemes. There are some English Vocaloids, but probably far less songs written for them, and I'm guessing that they'd sound less natural than a Japanese Vocaloid singing Japanese.-
Also, Hatsune Miku singing "Still Alive" from Portal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxTYc-nF1gM
-
-
here's some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid
-
-
-
-
-
-
-