Shigureden
Forget Sony and Microsoft's hyper-powered super-consoles, Nintendo's DS Navi is just one component of Nintendo's ode to history!
Hiroshi Yamauchi, the recently retired former head honcho of Nintendo loves old Japanese poetry. For one, he opened up an animation studio whose first project is to make films based on some of these old poems. Secondly, there's this new museum/exhibit called Shigureden that just opened up in their hometown of Kyoto, Japan's former capital and still spiritual capital.
There's this old Japanese game where passages of poems are written on cards, and scholars would race each other to locate the proper one asked of them. I'm just paraphrasing here; I'm sure it's much more complicated than that.
If you thought the DS was unique before, you have to check this place out. Yes, their custom version of the DS (called DS Navi) is actually more high-tech despite the lack of buttons. The technology Nintendo crammed into this peaceful, humble museum has blown my mind. There's a floor made of HD screens displaying either a map of (old/modern) Kyoto or the poem cards (depending on the game the group of visitors are playing), and you have to scamper your way around this high-tech floor in a sort of Where's Waldo-esque search. You see, the DS Navi has super-sensitive proximity sensors that know when you're in the right spot. In fact, there's this other section of the museum that has a hallway full of poems written in gold on the black walls. Just stand in front of one, press the button on your DS, and it will be sung to you; then you can side-step over to the next one, and it knows that you're now looking at something different. My mind is reeling!
I'd prefer that they consolidate the mini-posts, but for today I'm sure they won't be too deep into the archives. Check out www.kotaku.com and read/see it.
Read about the old couple.
It's things like this that show you Nintendo's not going anywhere any time soon. They're an integral part of Japan's cultural identity--not merely just something we outsiders associate with the country.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, the recently retired former head honcho of Nintendo loves old Japanese poetry. For one, he opened up an animation studio whose first project is to make films based on some of these old poems. Secondly, there's this new museum/exhibit called Shigureden that just opened up in their hometown of Kyoto, Japan's former capital and still spiritual capital.
There's this old Japanese game where passages of poems are written on cards, and scholars would race each other to locate the proper one asked of them. I'm just paraphrasing here; I'm sure it's much more complicated than that.
If you thought the DS was unique before, you have to check this place out. Yes, their custom version of the DS (called DS Navi) is actually more high-tech despite the lack of buttons. The technology Nintendo crammed into this peaceful, humble museum has blown my mind. There's a floor made of HD screens displaying either a map of (old/modern) Kyoto or the poem cards (depending on the game the group of visitors are playing), and you have to scamper your way around this high-tech floor in a sort of Where's Waldo-esque search. You see, the DS Navi has super-sensitive proximity sensors that know when you're in the right spot. In fact, there's this other section of the museum that has a hallway full of poems written in gold on the black walls. Just stand in front of one, press the button on your DS, and it will be sung to you; then you can side-step over to the next one, and it knows that you're now looking at something different. My mind is reeling!
I'd prefer that they consolidate the mini-posts, but for today I'm sure they won't be too deep into the archives. Check out www.kotaku.com and read/see it.
Read about the old couple.
It's things like this that show you Nintendo's not going anywhere any time soon. They're an integral part of Japan's cultural identity--not merely just something we outsiders associate with the country.