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That's not entirely true. Windows CE code was available, but developers basically didn't use it much. cnet covered this at the time of launch, and in the end only around 50 games used it (out of over 700 created).

One of the Japanese launch titles, Sega Rally 2, used Windows CE, and it had a very inconsistent framerate. I believe the game was later re-released as a "native" game, which may have been the version released to the US. You can still fine some sites that mention some of the problems.

Putting in a Pepsi machine in the office break room and having Pepsi products dump out when someone blasts the thing is probably far more effective.

I would say that using Pepsiman as a selectable character in your fighting game would be even more effective (and fun). Heck, maybe you could have an entire game devoted to Pepsiman... Now that would be amazing.

Nah, no one would ever do that...

Observe the genius of PEPSIMAN! http://www.ex.org/4.5/55-game_pepsiman.html

And I didn't think Japanese Robot Cats were supposed to have ears...

Wouldn't that be something..

The result was that the strongest men ruled, and everyone else was oppressed (as illustrated in one well known movie :-)

If you logically extend Middle Ages into today, you will see something resembling Japan 100 years ago. Rifles and other firearms were not welcome in Japan until about 20th century...

It is a completely different question, though, whether you'd like to live in such a society. Have a look at Rurouni Kenshin.

This too is of a world with quite human-like robots but set in a twilight time of dwindling humanity after a mysterious cataclysm that reduced Japanese metropoles into rural landscape.

The story is slow and quiet, not for those craving massive amounts of action, yet there is this little mystery around the edges, and eerie atmosphere that makes you think.

There are some reviews available at the defunct web zine EX of the manga and the anime.

Recommended.

This too is of a world with quite human-like robots but set in a twilight time of dwindling humanity after a mysterious cataclysm that reduced Japanese metropoles into rural landscape.

The story is slow and quiet, not for those craving massive amounts of action, yet there is this little mystery around the edges, and eerie atmosphere that makes you think.

There are some reviews available at the defunct web zine EX of the manga and the anime.

Recommended.

This too is of a world with quite human-like robots but set in a twilight time of dwindling humanity after a mysterious cataclysm that reduced Japanese metropoles into rural landscape.

The story is slow and quiet, not for those craving massive amounts of action, yet there is this little mystery around the edges, and eerie atmosphere that makes you think.

There are some reviews available at the defunct web zine EX of the manga and the anime.

Recommended.

I think the street date of that Weekly Jump magazine is probably after/on the 19th, but somebody in Japan is getting copies early and posting them online, though I'm not sure - I would think Square Enix wouldn't want to scoop their own press conference by printing details early elsewhere. The magazine itself is _very_ popular, it seems - has a larger circulation than any US game-related magazine, though it seems like it covers other stuff too:

"What is JUMP? WEEKLY JUMP, rival publication of WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY, is a "phone book" anthology published every week, with a circulation over 4 million. It is filled with some of today's hottest titles targeted for school age boys, many of them familiar to anime fans. JUMP has among its esteemed alumni: DRAGON BALL, VIDEO GIRL AI, CITY HUNTER, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD, SAINT SEIYA, SLAM DUNK, and YUU YUU HAKUSHO / POLTERGEIST REPORT."

After reading a particular article in the Matrix philosophy section, I've gotten a little less annoyed with the bio-electric power, because they put more emphasis on telling a story and seeding discussion. --although I still occasionally get knee-jerk desires to yell out, "OMG that's so BS," at the "bioelectric" energy plot-hole/saver(?). One possiblity: The machines, following the "essence of the second renaissance", chose to "bless all forms of intelligence" and preserve humanity for ethical[?] reasons and subsequently did something useful with the human "flesh" the machines had demanded from the people at the United Nations HQ(?) --sounds like a Computer Lifeform's Burden argued for by the human rights faction of the artificial intelligence collective =D[1]

Maybe he film producers are well aware that people don't generate power, but they're trying to show that people are always getting used for power today (politically) and in the future (elecrically [electronically]?) Human-brains-as-computing-source plot device wasn't used, emphasizing that the machines could do all the processing "needed", relegating humans to --exceedingly-- menial power generating duties, a form of role reversal showing how far man had fallen from their earlier thought-of-as superior position.

After all, having "long studied man's, simple, protein based based" bodies, the machines could have engineered blocks of cancer-like bioelectric flesh superior in most ways to the human-power-cells for their power duties because the blocks reproduce, come in adjustable shapes, and are very very unlikely to rebel [al la Neo] ;) ) But, they'd be boring, they'd kill the "save the enslaved masses" plot, and wouldn't be as ironic *heh*


_____________
[1]All quotes occur near the section where a machine intelligence is meeting with human leaders in Second Renaissance Part 2 before the building blows up like Neo Tokyo in Akira

Plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians are the model I'm suggesting here. These are people who install, maintain, and repair systems in their various fields. They are not engineers, but neither are they assembly-line workers: they take existing products and fit them to the customer's needs according to a plan and best practices. They plan and carry out maintenance, and do repairs. The lineman who fixes your telephone service when the storm knocks it out is a technician, not an engineer: he (or she) didn't design the thing, but he's trained in how to put it back into working order when it b0rks itself.

Another word, with some history in computer practice, is operator. The role this word referred to several years ago seems now to be filled mostly by junior sysadmins. The operator, as I understand it, was the guy who changed the backup tapes, swapped the disk packs, knew how to add users and police disk quota, but didn't necessarily have the deeper knowledge necessary to do involved repairs.

One difficulty is that computer jobs tend to encompass a wider range of tasks, including a lot of improvisation with whatever tools are suited to the worker's skills. Many of today's sysadmins doubtless know more about programming than electricians know about electrical engineering or most plumbers know about fluid dynamics -- though this does not mean that a computer technician is interchangeable with a programmer. The sysadmin needs little CS; the programmer had better have enough to tell a big-O analysis from a giant robot anime.

Take my job, for instance. I do some of what I'm calling computer technician work -- installing software, doing maintenance, responding to problems, planning backups. I have specific knowledge in computer security and do a range of tasks related, from firewall administration to advising sysadmins and programmers around the site. But I also have some CS background and I do more than a bit of programming myself -- some related to system administration, some to other site-specific needs. And then there's the technical writing.

One job title? Ten? I have no idea.

here
List is oriented to getting Japanese stuff into the U.S. though

I guess I'm one of the old timers - I used to trade for 5th generation fansubs in the mid 80's - before you could rent anime at Blockbuster (anyone remember Heavy Metal: L-Gaim?). Anyway, this year looks really good for anime fans... The classic old-school series, Mobile Suit Gundam (along with a number of sequels and spin-offs) are also coming to DVD and the Cartoon Network sometime soon!

http://www.gundamofficial.com/uc/uc_index.html

"Big O" is also a new DVD series worth checking out, it's a sort of "BATMAN meets GIANT ROBO"

http://www.ex.org/5.1/13-anime_bigo.html

Much better examples of mixing CG and animation are Studio Gonzo's newest TV series; Gate Keepers, and the just-now-airing-in-Japan Vandread.

Admittedly, they are both fanservice series, but Vandread in particular really looks exciting(after watching episode #4).

MP3 players are all the rage, but everyone seems to be overlooking one major flaw: flash memory is really expensive. 64 MB of songs just isn't enough, even for a bus ride to work. What you need is a format that is cheaper than flash, but just as portable and durable.

Independent-minded techies will want to take a good, long look at getting their hands on MiniDisc hardware. Tiny, durable, long battery life, and $2.50 for 74 min. of nearly indestructible, rewritable, random-access storage is hard to beat. The sound quality on recent units is really CD-quality, considerably better than 128Kbps MP3. 12 hour battery life is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Portable recorder units like the Sony MZ-R90 can be had for around $320, while a player like the E60 or E75 is around $200. Pick up a home deck to go with a player-only model, and you're set. Minidisco and Planet MiniDisc are good sources of equipment and discs.

If you're in the Playstation-2-on-eBay price range, then the Ghibli ga Ippai, or Full of Ghibli, laserdisc boxed set is what you need. All of Studio Ghibli's wonderful films (except Princess Mononoke, which it predates) are collected in one box, with high-quality laserdisc transfers. No subtitles, though; you'll have to print out translated scripts unless your Japanese is really good. A new set would have cost Y98000, or about $1000. Unfortunately, it is now out of print, so you will have to either a) check eBay daily or b) get friends in Japan to scour the dusty back shelves of anime shops. Good luck. (Selling one?)

An entire article about Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop, and not even a mention to the master of music Yoko Kanno.

Fear not, we at EX.org devoted an entire interview to Yoko Kanno last year. ^^ (We even included a surprise Q&A with her Escaflowne partner Hajime Mizoguchi.)

EX 4.5: Interview with Kanno Yoko
EX 4.5: Escaflowne Panel

(Yes, I'm shamelessly biased. ;)

At the time we visited their office, the Bebop producer, director, and character designer were all there, but not Kanno. However, we did cover the first live concert of Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi's character voice and opening theme singer for Escaflowne in Japanese) this month, and guess who was there to greet us .... You will find coverage of that concert in EX.org later this year. Please keep reading!

An entire article about Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop, and not even a mention to the master of music Yoko Kanno.

Fear not, we at EX.org devoted an entire interview to Yoko Kanno last year. ^^ (We even included a surprise Q&A with her Escaflowne partner Hajime Mizoguchi.)

EX 4.5: Interview with Kanno Yoko
EX 4.5: Escaflowne Panel

(Yes, I'm shamelessly biased. ;)

At the time we visited their office, the Bebop producer, director, and character designer were all there, but not Kanno. However, we did cover the first live concert of Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi's character voice and opening theme singer for Escaflowne in Japanese) this month, and guess who was there to greet us .... You will find coverage of that concert in EX.org later this year. Please keep reading!

Some followup information for your post:

Record of Lodoss War
This was someone's Dungeons and Dragons campaign, I'm sure.

It was. See this article in Ex for the rather complicated history of the Lodoss story.

Tenchi Muyo!
I liked the original OAVs, which aren't on DVD.

Yes they are, I know, because I bought them yesterday. Look for the Tenchi Muyo Ultimate Edition boxed set.

As for my take on the original article, I've also noticed a strong correlation between geeks and anime fans. I suspect the reason is probably due to the fact that the American entertainment establishment isn't providing much good right now. Babylon 5 was the last thing on TV that really spoke to me, and the failure of Crusade shows how unlikely it is that a worthy successor to it will appear.

It does appear now that there enough Slashdot authors interested in posting Anime news that they should make an Anime Topic. If Slashdot does decide to go for it, use Anipike, EX, and A Fan's View for useful URLs. ^_^

EX right now is running a feature on BONES, the production house that brought out fine works like ESCAFLOWNE and COWBOY BEBOP. Cover art done by Kawamoto himself! ^_^

I like the interest in Anime you guys are showing. Please keep it up!

It does appear now that there enough Slashdot authors interested in posting Anime news that they should make an Anime Topic. If Slashdot does decide to go for it, use Anipike, EX, and A Fan's View for useful URLs. ^_^

EX right now is running a feature on BONES, the production house that brought out fine works like ESCAFLOWNE and COWBOY BEBOP. Cover art done by Kawamoto himself! ^_^

I like the interest in Anime you guys are showing. Please keep it up!

It does appear now that there enough Slashdot authors interested in posting Anime news that they should make an Anime Topic. If Slashdot does decide to go for it, use Anipike, EX, and A Fan's View for useful URLs. ^_^

EX right now is running a feature on BONES, the production house that brought out fine works like ESCAFLOWNE and COWBOY BEBOP. Cover art done by Kawamoto himself! ^_^

I like the interest in Anime you guys are showing. Please keep it up!

EX Magazine did an article on VHS vs. LD vs. DVD a while back, so I'd mind as well post a link to it here:

DVD's and Their Place in the Anime Video Hierarchy

EX Magazine did an article on VHS vs. LD vs. DVD a while back, so I'd mind as well post a link to it here:

DVD's and Their Place in the Anime Video Hierarchy

• Ayashi-no Seles
  • Ayashi.net
• Bubblegum Crisis
  • Bubblegum Crisis page
  • Tokyo 2040: Rare and Useless Pages
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion site
• A.D.V. Films
• AnimEigo
• Anime Grapevine
• Anime Hideaway
• Anime International Company
• Anime Marriage Prospects
• Anime Nation
• Anime On DVD
• AniPike
• AniSound
• Ex
• OX-11 ("Gall Force: The Web Page")
• U.S. Manga Corps

The Vision of Escaflowne: Many people didn't manage to see this one, as it was overshadowed by Evangelion (which ran the same season, in the same time slot). It's good. Damn good. Earth girl goes to medieval fantasy planet that has big mechas and a massive ongoing war. Extremely well done.

Escaflowne did get overshadowed by Evangelion (even its own producer admitted it ^^;), but it ran after Evangelion ended, in a different timeslot. It's just that almost *every* project for a few years afterwards were affected (positively or negatively) by Evangelion. The industry folks in Japan even have several names for it ("Eva Shock"), and one mainstream newspaper called the phenomenon the third wave of Japanese animation (after the ones launched by Space Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam).

Fortunately, Escaflowne is experiencing something of an resurgence thanks to the upcoming movie and other releases on both sides of the Pacific.

I second your opinion on the Vision of Escaflowne, I was looking to see if anyone else recommended it before I put my two cents in. I myself was disappointed with the ending, felt it was rushed. The producers knew they had the leeway of making a movie to tie up loose ends (in production now).

The producers decided not to go that route. ^^; Escaflowne the Movie will not be a followup to the series, but an entirely separate storyline. You can catch Escaflowne the Movie at its American premieres at Anime Expo and Otakon.

IFor more information, everybody, on anime and manga, the best English language online resource I've seen is EX.org , which might be the best online magazine I've seen, period.

I second that EX recommendation, although I'm somewhat biased. =)

This is all good stuff, most of which is on DVD, so it's accessible. There are a lot of good series that aren't commercially available in the US though which can be obtained as fansubs (fan subtitled copies) or raw (sometimes with translated scripts that you can refer to ;)

• Vision of Escaflowne
  1 part fantasy, 1 part mecha, 1 part brilliant music by Yoko Kanno (Japan's answer to John Williams), 1 part fun with physics and a dash of Bob Hope's nose. Excellent. On DVD in October.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
  Giant mecha and girls, but so much more. It gets heady with lots of religion and philosophy. Expect to watch it twice. It owes a lot to the old British Thunderbirds show, particularly in the realm of music. (sounds 50's and 60's) Excellent work by Gainax, as usual. Coming out on DVD now.
• Castle of Cagliostro
  The best of the Lupin III films, largely because it's by Miyazaki (Nausicaa, Totoro, etc.) On DVD now, very good.
• Serial Experiments Lain
  Weird and creepy. Good animation, gets hard to figure out what's happening towards the end. Which really just means that you should watch it again ;) On DVD.
• Macross Plus
  Top Gun, with mecha and computer generated idol singers. Good animation, great music (Yoko Kanno again) especially fun for fans of Macross or Robotech. On DVD now.
• Bubblegum Crisis
  Animation quality is fairly poor until halfway through, but it's actually a good series. It was done in the late 80's, it's cyberpunk and it owes more than a little to Blade Runner. Worth seeing, if only because most big anime otaku have seen it and it's still popular. Not to be confused with Bubblegum Crash (the awful sequel) or Bubblegum Crisis: 2040 (the 90's remake). On DVD now.
• Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Laputa Castle in the Sky, My Friend Totoro, everything else by Miyazaki
  Miyazaki is good. Disney got a lot of rights, but there are no DVDs yet of his Studio Ghibli stuff. Some of it is on tape. If you like Spielberg movies (good, sense of adventure, happy ending) you're going to like his films.
• Cowboy Bebop
  Bounty hunters in a well-developed solar system. Can range from hilarious to gritty. Excellent characters, animation, Yoko Kanno music. A solid winner. Coming out on DVD now. A must-see.
• Wings of Honneamise
  Rumored for DVD for some time now. Early space exploration in an alternate world where no one treats the space forces seriously. The first big thing from Gainax. Very good. You can see it on tape, at least.
• Grave of the Fireflies
  Tragic story of a brother and sister at the end of WW2. Good but really sad.
• Ghost in the Shell
  Really, the manga (comic) version is better. It's pretty deep for a cyberpunk special ops movie, but Shirow, the guy that does the manga (and another one, Appleseed) is like that. Sweet animation though. On DVD now.
• Patlabor 2
  The 2nd Patlabor movie. Since the backstory for the world relies on knowing more about Patlabor, it's a near future where labors (mecha) are used in construction of a global-warming-rising-seas-proof dam around Tokyo Bay. Naturally criminals start using the labors and so the police get a few PATrol LABORs of their own. Darker than the series, with conspiracies and terrorists. Same animation as Ghost in the Shell. Excellent movie. On DVD soon.
• Record of Lodoss War
  A 13 part series based, it's said, on the D&D campaign of the creators. Really quite good if you're into fantasy. Even has elf babes. ;) On DVD now. A sequel has come out recently on VHS, and will probably be on DVD soon.

And of course there are a zillion anime series of every genre and sub genre. There are just not so many DVDs and not enough commercial releases on disc or tape. For those of you wanting to find more, check out:

• Anipike the yahoo of anime
• Anime on DVD
• EX a good web magazine.

Between all of these, you're sure to find some good stuff, and more information.

Lain's a great show. One of the few that actually make you think. Don't watch it for the animation as there's really not much, but that doesn't take anything away.

Cowboy Bebop's a work of art. Fun storytelling, great animation, and superb music (Yoko Kanno is a goddess). Be sure to check out the other work that the animators did: Macross Plus, and Escaflowne (The latter being one of my all time favorite TV series).

You'll get a lot of mentions for Ranma and Tenchi Muyo, but I find both of them overrated. They are cute and fun at first, but then drag out to repition. Yawn.

While Ghost in the Shell is a great movie, it too is terribly overrated, and is not the "classic" that people make it out to be. Check out previous works by the director: the two Patlabor movies (which will hopefully be out on DVD by the end of the year). I consider Patlabor 2 to be of the three best anime movies ever made.

Speaking of anime movies, there's the definitive classic, Wings of Honneamise. This is generaly conisdered to be the best anime movie, or even animated movie, ever made. The DVD should be out soon, but then again they've been saying that for the last two years.

The people who made Honneamise is a group called Gainax, and everything they have made is brilliant. Luckily most of them have been released over here: Gunbuster, Nadia, Otaku no Video, Evangelion, and Kare Kano (coming soon). Sadly only Evangelion has been released on DVD so far.

Of course, one can't mention great anime without mentioning Studio Ghibli. They've finally gained popularity over here with the releases of Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke. Everything they touch turns to gold and must be seen.

Another great is Castle of Cagliostro, which is by the director of Kiki and Mononoke. While it is from the late '70s many modern works can't touch it for action or plot.

Speaking of '70s anime, there's the true classic, Mobile Suit Gundam. There are three movies out that cover the original series. It may be 20 years old, but it still is one of the best science fiction series out there.

There's so much more to talk about, like titles coming soon to DVD (Video Girl Ai, Please Save My Earth, Key the Metal Idol), titles only available on VHS or LD (Here is Greenwood, Kimagure Orange Road), and stuff that'll never be released over here (Initial D, Arion, Weathering Continent).

If you want more info, I highly recommend EX Magazine. It is the best anime magazine out there, electronic or print.

If you are looking for some Anime resources on line, here is a short list off the top of my head:

- EX
This is a review site that reviews a ton of Anime, Anime Music, Manga(comics where a lot of Anime comes from), and other stuff(games, books, etc that are Anime related). One of the oldest and longest running online Anime e-zines.

EX is one of the best magazines out there for anime in the US. The US print mags are sorta sub-standard IMHO.

- Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database
Hitoshi's exploits as a Seiyuu(a voice actor/actress) are legendary and his database shows it. If there was a piece of animation made in Japan and there was a speaking role in it, it has been cataloged here. Great for crossref-ing your favorite actress!

Still the best resource out there, but is starting to show a lot of holes recently... there's only so much Hitoshi can keep up with, and he seems to be mostly interested in shoujo or otherwise cutesy series.

Conventions(there are a bunch...to list them all would kill me ^_^)
- Anime Expo
Southern California con. Quite possibly, the "high profile Anime con" where a lot of the domestics and some of the Japanese companies make announcements.

Going this year! Woohoo! Got my Zelgadis costume ready too...

Finally....
- Anipike
An ambitious attempt to catalog all of the Anime content out there on the web. Has an interesting "Last Exit" column that showcases the best(and the worse) of Anime Online. This site is great to find anything and everything Anime.

YMMV. I can't say I always agree with Ryan in his column, but he seems to have a very moderate viewpoint, between casual and hardcore fan.

I'm glad someone here brought this up. ^_^

If you are looking for some Anime resources on line, here is a short list off the top of my head:

- EX
This is a review site that reviews a ton of Anime, Anime Music, Manga(comics where a lot of Anime comes from), and other stuff(games, books, etc that are Anime related). One of the oldest and longest running online Anime e-zines.

- Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database
Hitoshi's exploits as a Seiyuu(a voice actor/actress) are legendary and his database shows it. If there was a piece of animation made in Japan and there was a speaking role in it, it has been cataloged here. Great for crossref-ing your favorite actress!

Conventions(there are a bunch...to list them all would kill me ^_^)
- Anime Expo
Southern California con. Quite possibly, the "high profile Anime con" where a lot of the domestics and some of the Japanese companies make announcements.

- Anime Central
Chicago area con. Great con for those of us who live in the center of the country. ^_^;

Business...
- A.D. Films
Domestic distributor of stuff shows like Evangelion.
- Anime Village
Domestic distributor of stuff shows like Cowboy Bebop.
- Pioneer Anime
Domestic distributor of shows like Tenchi.

Finally....
- Anipike
An ambitious attempt to catalog all of the Anime content out there on the web. Has an interesting "Last Exit" column that showcases the best(and the worse) of Anime Online. This site is great to find anything and everything Anime.

I second your opinion on the Vision of Escaflowne, I was looking to see if anyone else recommended it before I put my two cents in. I myself was disappointed with the ending, felt it was rushed. The producers knew they had the leeway of making a movie to tie up loose ends (in production now).

My understanding is that VoE has been picked up by Fox Kids! for the 2000-2001 season, so there's a good chance you can see it for free. I'm just afraid, no I'm certain, that they'll dub it, and we'll lose Maaya Sakamoto's great performance as Hitomi. She even sings the theme song in character, don't see that enough.

For more information, everybody, on anime and manga, the best English language online resource I've seen is EX.org , which might be the best online magazine I've seen, period.

I should point out that while Battle Athletes is cool, Battle Athletes Victory kicks ass! *_*

Other animes I'd recommend:

Revolutionary Girl Utena - this series is MESSED UP, but it's MESSED UP GOOD. I highly recommend this series; you'll hate it at first, but eventually, you'll love the twisted storylines... [eg]

Neon Genesis Evangelion - a classic; man versus the angels, lotsa biblical stuff, really really cool mechs, etc.

Escaflowne - girl gets tossed into a dimension of fantasy and wishes.

Magic Knights Rayearth - Three girls get tossed into a mythical land, supposedly chosen as the magic knights. A cult favorite.

Rurouni Kenshin - If you like swordfight-type shows, this is a goodie; it's about a swordsman back in the meiji era of Japan who's trying to get away from the killing that plagued his earlier life as one of the greatest killers of his time.

Oh! My Goddess - Another classic about a boy who accidentally dials-a-goddess....

Those are some of the first ones I saw when I was getting into anime. Now that I've been around for a while, I prefer the mahou shoujo shows, (magical girl shows, aimed at little girls but still watched by lotsa other age groups..) but I've also got a few shounen (boy) shows in my collection.

Links I'd recommend people check out: Anipike, and EX Online.

I've got a few other links hidden on my own webpage, too, and a few other series mentioned there, in case anyone's interested in those shoujo shows I was talking about...

Good old online anime site EX Magazine has done an editorial on Princess Mononoke-and they love it. Check it out here. =D


emufreak
www.kontek.net/pp

Good old online anime site EX Magazine has done an editorial on Princess Mononoke-and they love it. Check it out here. =D


emufreak
www.kontek.net/pp