Feb 112014
 


 
The 2014 Winter Wonder Festival has finally passed, and it revealed a number of surprises. This is a slightly late report, but here’s a summary of the notable announcements.

Three new figure sculptures were revealed for upcoming releases, and these include: A 1/7 scale “Hood Miku” by Max Factory based on the module/outfit from Project Diva 2nd on PSP. A 1/8 scale figure of 2013 Racing Miku’s “Sepang” outfit style by FREEing. And lastly, A Figma by Max Factory of 2013’s Racing Miku design for the Man of Isle bike race event was revealed. The bike is expected to be a separate accessory. Release dates are still unannounced.

 
Images of these two figures have been leaked before recently from a magazine, but now we finally have better official photos. A new nendoroid and figma design has been created for the upcoming lottery promotion at Family Mart stores in Japan. Both of them have Miku in a Spring school outfit, and the Figma features a different eye color, oddly enough. The event is expected to start in March.

 
Hatsune Miku is the mascot for Good Smile Company’s racing division, and she gets a new outfit design every year. This year’s design was drawn by the illustrator named Oguchi, and even Good Smile Racing’s BWM Z4 sports the new design. The typical Figma and Nendoroid sponsorship packages are planned, but not yet available for purchase.

 
For the last announcement, preorders for the Snow Miku Figma, as well as the Magical Snow version Nendoroid are now open until February 17th JST. The Figma is priced at 4115 Yen ($41 USD), while the Nendoroid’s price is set at 4629 Yen ($46 USD). Both are exclusive to Good Smile Company’s online shop, and can be ordered in quantities up to 3 of each. Orders over $100 also get free shipping! The expected shipment period is July 2014.

Order Hatsune Miku Magical Snow version Nendoroid
Order Hatsune Miku Snow Miku Figma

Feb 052014
 


 
Followers of gaming news related to Hatsune Miku may recognize MikuMiku Hockey, an Augmented Reality game for Vita. It was publicly demoed in early 2013, and later made available for free… As long as you were a PlayStation Plus member on the Japanese PlayStation Network.

Those who were hoping for a public release of the game may be somewhat in luck. The game is getting a version 2.0 upgrade with a number of new features, and will be available to all Japanese PSN members for 1,000 Yen starting on February 13th. If you are a PSN Plus member, you can download the game between February 6th and 12th for just 500 Yen.

Game Features List:

  • Single Player Mode, or watch two Miku models play against each other.
  • Multiplayer over AdHoc.
  • More outfit choices, including Snow Miku 2014.
  • New scoring/ranking system.
  • Analog control is now available.
  • Blow up Miku’s model to “life size”.

A PDF for the AR marker can be found on the game’s website.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnlUaPqrLQ]
 
Also in today’s news is an announcement by SEGA that gives us a somewhat better idea of the launch date for Project Diva f (Vita) for North America and Europe: Sometime in March 2014.

Not much has changed from what I previously announced, other than the optional DLC is now confirmed to be available at launch. Both SONY and SEGA have uploaded a new announcement trailer for this release.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPtkdPemp8E]
Feb 042014
 

Last night, Kahotan from Good Smile Company gave a full inside look at the contents of the next Snow Miku Nendoroid, titled “Magical Snow Version“. Those who saw Good Smile Company’s last live stream might have caught a glimpse of the packaging itself, but for many people it’s a surprise: The box itself is also designed to look like a spell book!

The figure comes with three different expressions, extra pieces to allow for a sitting position, the “Yukine” pet rabbit accessory, and even another smaller spell book that functions as a display stand and a storage container for the extra parts.

Visitors of the Winter Wonder Festival can pick up this figure in person at the event on February 9th. After that event, online preorders will be available from Good Smile Company’s online shop from February 9th through February 17th. The price is set at 4629 Yen ($45.55 USD), and is expected to ship in July 2014.

Go check out the full review over on Kahotan’s blog!