July 2013 Archives

Music Girl Hatsune Miku (E): The English Version Now Available on iOS

Posted by jrharbort at 8:00 am Hatsune Miku, Merchandise, Music, Videogames 6 Responses »

Jul 312013

Starting today, August 1st 2013, Marza Animation Planet Inc has announced that the iOS app “Music Girl Hatsune Miku (E)” is now available in English on the iTunes App Store. Released nearly a year ago, the Japanese version proved to be quite popular, and Marza is now bringing the app to Western fans.

The biggest difference with the English release compared to the Japanese version is the application price. The Japanese version was free, while offering additional outfits for a small fee. The English release bundles the Harukaze outfit with the application for a low price. Pricing is dependent on each country’s iTunes store.

“Music Girl Hatsune Miku (E)”is a hit app that climbed to #2 in the iTunes App Store ranking in just two days after its release.

This is a music player app in which the ever so popular IP Character “Hatsune Miku”, not only in her home country Japan, but all over the world, dances to the tunes installed in the user’s music player.

By utilizing fully the functions of iPhone/iPod touch, Hatsune Miku’s moves and grooves in exceptionally smooth 3-D graphics.

App Features are as follows:

– Select a song from iPhone/iPod touch, and listen to the music together with Miku, and If the BPM is acquired then Miku can move to the beat of the song and show various types of movements.
– The users can enjoy communication with Miku while listening to music, and if the closeness level rises then the user can receive special presents.
– Users can enjoy changing Miku’s fashion by acquiring new hairstyles, accessories and wardrobes available at the store inside the app. More items will be added and available in the future.

App URL: https://itunes.apple.com/app/music-girl-hatsune-miku-e/id652722751
Product Name: Music Girl Hatsune Miku(E)
Device Requirements: iPhone 3GS or newer, iPod Touch 3rd gen or newer, all iPad models, iOS 4.1 or greater required.
Copyrights: (C) SEGA / (C) Crypton Future Media, INC., (C) W ROCK GAMES Co., Ltd.／MARZA ANIMATION PLANET INC.

Music Girl Hatsune Miku iOS App – Official Teaser
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eqmGnwkIAk]

Music Girl Hatsune Miku iOS App – Review
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJcKaH_Ul8]

The Piapro Studio x Piapro Collab for Hatsune Miku V3 Has Begun

Posted by jrharbort at 6:03 am Events, Hatsune Miku, Merchandise, Music, Software No Responses »

Jul 262013

From July 26th until August 19th at 10:00 AM JST, Piapro will be hosting a community collaboration to produce downloadable content for Hatsune Miku’s Vocaloid3 and Piapro Studio software. The contest is designed to allow artists to create custom image icons for each of Hatsune Miku’s Japanese V3 vocal types in Piapro Studio, as well as custom sample/preview tracks of the voice banks.

The DLC will be optional downloads provided for free to users of Piapro Studio to allow a little customization in how the program looks and sounds.

Section A of the artist collaboration calls for illustrations to be used as Miku’s image icons in Piapro Studio. Submissions are simple, and must follow these guidelines:

1: The illustration of Miku must be 880x880px and jpg format, as seen in this image. Depending on how it’s used, the image may be shrunk as small as 55x55px. Keep this in mind when drawing your illustration.

2: The illustration must use headphones like the ones pictured in rule #1. Drawing them yourself is fine, but make sure to use the ones pictured for reference.

3: Submit your illustration to piapro with the tag “ミクＶ３＿Ａ” (copy and paste without quotes), and make sure the tag remains locked.

Section B of the artist collab is asking for vocal tracks to be featured as the short “sample” of Miku’s voice in Piapro Studio. This may be more difficult, since participation in this collab requires access to Miku’s software and a Vocaloid editor:

1: Create an audio track of Miku containing any short song or phrase of your own creation. The sample must be anywhere between 2~15 seconds in length.

2: Export your sample in VSQ/VSQX and MP3 with no external modifications or background music (instrumental).

3: Submit your MP3 to Piapro with the tag “ミクＶ３＿Ｂ” (copy and paste without quotes), and make sure the tag remains locked. Also make sure to attach your VSQ/VSQX file to the submission by adding them to the “related data” folder.

The full event details can be read here, and full event rules can be found here. You may recall from the previous article how Crypton mentioned an upcoming collaboration that would interest overseas fans. I’m suspecting there will be a similar or identical collaboration for English Miku starting this weekend.

Via Piapro Blog

New Products Announced by Crypton and Yamaha at Live Stream Press Event

Posted by jrharbort at 4:58 pm English Miku, Events, Hatsune Miku, Merchandise, Software 7 Responses »

Jul 242013

A followup to my own earlier summary of the live stream event, more details are now known of what was announced during the press conference stream held by Crypton and Yamaha.

As mentioned before, several existing Vocaloid products are getting Mac-compatible releases. These Mac versions are denoted by the “NEO” branding in their title. This includes, and may not be limited to: Vocaloid Editor for Cubase (VocaCu), VY1V3, VY2V3, Mew, Zola Project and Aoki Lapis. A Mac-compatible installer for these products will be freely available to current Windows-based Vocaloid users.

Several details of Hatsune Miku V3 and English were revealed. The Japanese version and English version will be sold as separate products, but will come bundled with the same suites of editing and production software. Hatsune Miku English will also be sold internationally.

A slide shown by Hiroyuki Itoh leaked 6 different V3 Hatsune Miku voice banks: Original, Dark, Soft, Sweet, Solid and English. This may not be the finalized list, but it seems likely that a couple of the least popular Appends from Hatsune Miku V2 (Light and Vivid) were dropped. Full details of the products, including pricing and availability, will come sometime in early August.

Crypton also touched on the topic of Meiko V3, confirming that she will also be bundled with a full suite of editing and production software, as well as have a Mac-compatible installer upon release. They also plan to have a Mac installer available for Kaito V3, along with all of their other existing Vocaloid products.

Crypton announced the revamped product page on their website, and they plan to open a “Crypton Channel” on Nicovideo (probably similar to their existing YouTube Channel?). There will also be an upcoming Piapro collaboration this weekend that will be aimed at fans outside of Japan, so stay tuned for that announcement. Lastly, they are working on an new project aimed at creators, the details of which is currently unrevealed.

Thank you to Hightrancesea at Vocaloidism for his more detailed report. Be sure to read it if you want a few laughs.

Prizes and Ticket Information Revealed For Hatsune Miku x Family Mart Summer Promotion

Posted by jrharbort at 2:46 am Events, Figures, Hatsune Miku, Merchandise No Responses »

Jul 242013

Thanks to new product updates by Happy Kuji and Good Smile Company, we now have additional images and information on the products that will be available as prizes in the upcoming Hatsune Miku x Family Mart summer promotion. The only thing seemingly lacking, however, is the start date of the promotion.

Ticket prices, just like the last couple promotional campaigns, will be set at 800 Yen each. Every store will carry a set number of prizes and tickets, with the higher prizes being more rare. There is also a special prize awaiting those who grab the last ticket in each store.

The first prize to mention is the “A” rank prize, which will include two nendoroids. It contains a Swimsuit ver. Hatsune Miku nendoroid, as well as a Family Mart 2013 ver. Miku nendoroid. This will be the second rarest of the promotional prizes.

The next prizes, and less rare, are the B and C rank prizes, which are the Family Mart 2013 ver. Kagamine Rin and Len version nendoroids, respectively. The only detail unknown to me is if there will be more Len nendoroids compared to the Rin version, since he is a lower prize rank.

Before the details of the lower ranking prizes, I feel the “Last” prize is more worthy of note. This is the Swimsuit Hatsune Miku Family Mart Color ver Nendoroid. As the name suggests, it’s exactly the same as the swimsuit nendoroid seen in the A rank prize, but with a Family Mart color scheme. This prize will be awarded to whoever buys the last ticket at each Family Mart store, possibly making it the rarest prize.

The last remaining prizes are the “Becoming Round” Hatsune Miku plushie (Rank D), Soup and Curry bowls (Rank E), binders with notepad and pen (Rank F), handbags with art (Rank G), and even more Graphigs (Rank H). There is also one last “W” rank prize that is unannounced, and seems to be a challenge prize of sorts.

Miku to be in Summer Sonic 2013!

Posted by Lawrence Elsa at 8:03 pm Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Jul 222013

Piapro has announced that Hatsune Miku will preform in Japan’s Summer Sonic music festival from 22:00 to 22:40 on August 9th!

The SONIC MANIA special event takes place in both Tokyo and Osaka on the 9th, while the main event takes place on the 10th, and 11th (Saturday and Sunday). The announcement also gave a link to the Summer Sonic official website where tickets are for sale. The Tokyo tickets and the SONIC MANIA tickets both sold out, but tickets for the Osaka viewing are still available for either a 1 day pass (13000 JPY) or a 2 day pass (23000 JPY). Other bands to be included in the performance are Metallica, Linkin Park, Volbeat, Fall Out boy, and so much more.

Further news will be posted as information is given, stay posted!

Sources: Summersonic Piapro Blog Creativeman

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