Alainmendez

Loving this roundup of little-known words from Mental Floss's John Green. Tons of strange terms and designations in this collection, from the scientific to the anatomical to the socio-cultural.

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Previously confined to a general fall release window, Capcom officially confirmed Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies for October 24 in the west. The digital-only game will arrive in the 3DS eShop in North America and Europe priced at $29.99/€24.99.

Capcom's synopsis:

Courtroom hero Phoenix Wright returns. The much loved gameplay and features from previous titles in the series are for the first time in stunning 3D, bringing the trials to life and putting players directly in the heart of the action. Players will need to investigate crime scenes to uncover clues before heading to court and presenting evidence, challenge witnesses and unravel the truth behind each of the cases.  Joining Phoenix is young Attorney Apollo Justice and new Associate Attorney Athena Cykes, whose unique ability to psychoanalyse witnesses’ emotions introduces a brand new element to proceedings.

Some fresh screens:

Fans in the west can also look forward to the costume pack and an additional episode, "Turnabout Return," with more info to come on the DLC release plans. 

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.

It's always wonderful to see children's television staffers pay care and attention to the important details of their shows. And this short list of Bill Nye the Science Guy's "Rules of the Road" lays out the basics of creating an engaging show that gets people excited about learning.

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What happens when you blend the reflective comics of Bill Watterson with the philosophy of the Dune books? Calvin & Muad'Dib, two great tastes that are wonderfully odd together.

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Haruki Godo plays with Disney costuming by dressing various animated princesses in the clothes of their respective princes. Some of them look even better in boots and pants than they do in their usual outfits.

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Your dog is not going to miss you after the robot uprising. In a recent experiment with sociable robots — who are designed to emulate human social behavior — scientists found that dogs learned quickly how to interact with robots just as if they were human.

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Since You Asked, 10 September 2013:

Dear Cary,

What went wrong with my life? I have the outward trappings of success at 50 years old. I live in a mansion, have servants and a chauffeur, travel extensively to nice places and resort areas, and spend much time giving motivational and political speeches around the country. I have three successful adult sons, a beautiful, accomplished and brilliant wife with whom I’ve been married 25 years, and have enough money that I could retire tomorrow (if I were willing to downsize, which I am not). I occasionally write for the national press — indeed, I’ve written a not terribly good book, and have yet to publish it. Interviews with me are eagerly sought in my specialty. My picture graces trade publications, magazines and books. I have done far better than almost all of my peers. I suspect that most of them envy me. Yes, I realize that other people looking at me must think I live the charmed life; yet that same life seems completely devoid of interest or charm to me. I have absolutely everything except, say, $20 million; but I live a generous lifestyle that the vast majority of denizens of this planet, including many far richer than I, would eagerly take from me. I am considered good-looking; women are constantly hitting on me, and I have become a master of the polite refusal. (Although I realize that this is a woman thing: They like to test men who seem happily married.) I write these words unable to sleep. I haven’t read a book in a year or two; nor have I taken a vacation. My attention span is zero. While I can turn on whenever I need to do so, most of the time I don’t. I feel like a lost soul. And yet I am not depressed! How could I be? Our parties are sought after; my employees admire me, my competition is intimidated by me. This is not a joke, nor an exaggeration. Recently I picked up a business magazine in a doctor’s office out of boredom and read to my surprise (because nobody had informed me) that the journalists responsible for that publication had written that I am one of the 50 most influential people in my region of the country. The accompanying profile was actually pretty accurate — about my professional achievements. I regularly pick up the press and find interviews with me that I don’t recall having given. There are signs that something is wrong. My friends, over the years, have fallen away, largely because I don’t have time to keep up with them. I don’t participate in non-professional-related entertainment activities, but because my business involves entertainment I go out very often. Business contacts praise me to the skies; organizations fight to get me to speak to them. I am widely known as one of the most successful men of my part of the the country, for my time and place. There is not a member of the establishment within 250 miles of me who would not return a phone call from me within an hour without an excellent excuse. What is wrong with me? I feel dead inside. There is nothing here. This is not a joke or a trick. This is my life. How do I fix it? Poor Mister Rich Man

You know, back in those distant halcyon days of, oh, about five weeks ago, if someone had asked me a question like this, I would have cheerfully answered it. That was before I watched the hate mail (some of it rather intense and scary) come in from people who were angry because the Twelfth Doctor wasn’t a woman and I seemed okay with this, and before I saw answers to asks on this Tumblr quoted out of context and bolstered by lies in the Daily Mirror newspaper and off across the net.  

These modern days having an opinion on Doctor Who seems significantly less fun than it used to, so I think I will keep mine to myself. I’m sorry. Ask me when we meet, and I’ll tell you.

As Vertical begins to schedule books for 2015, we wanted to ask our readers a few questions about what they would like to see from Vertical. And as usual, we will also ask a few questions regarding your buying habits and convention suggestions.

The window is open!

We’ll keep this open through Sept 22nd. Have fun and share with your fellow manga fans.

(Oh and please please read the notes. We would hate for you all to waste your suggestions with titles we cannot consider.)

The Bad Advisor has an uncanny ability to identify the biggest asshole in any room. 

“The only way he knows how to resolve conflict is with those damn Eagles,” is one of the most persistent complaints about Tolkien. “They’re such a deus ex machina,” the complainer will add if he wants to make it absolutely clear that he went to college.

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I, like many Sci-Fi enthusiasts, was greatly disappointed that Firefly was canceled (okay, that is an understatement but you get what I mean). There were few shows on American television that grabbed my attention as quickly.  The small consolation is that companies like Quantum Mechanix recognize how close and dear the crew of Serenity are to fans' hearts and are attempting to fill in the gap with awesome merchandise.

One example of said merchandise is the upcoming 1:6 Scale Malcom Reynolds statue, sculpted by Trevor Grove and produced by Quantum Mechanix. The piece showcases Mal before he became the Captain we all know and love, when he was a Sergeant of the Independents Army during the Unification War. The scene depicted is of Mal at the decisive battle at Serenity Valley, complete with pistol in one hand and the Independents flag in the other. You will notice that our hero looks a bit younger than in the show but is still a remarkable likeness to Nathan Fillion, Mal's actor.

The final product of this statue will be made of hand-cast polystone and hand-painted. Mal is 12 inches tall but with the 11 by 9 inch base and flag included, the statue stands at 16 and a half inches. The whole thing weighs about 10 pounds. The flagstaff will be made of metal in the final version, with either a resin or fabric flag (they haven't decided). No word on a release date or price as of yet.

[via Quantum Mechanix]

Four-part OVA/theatrical run prequel series Ghost in the Shell: Arise continues with border:2, "Ghost Whispers" on November 30th. A Blu-ray release follows the theatrical run on December 25th.

Get a look at the new preview:

Ikuya Sawaki and Takako Fuji join the cast for the second episode.

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

This week UNIQLO debuts 8 new t-shirts featuring art and characters from the world of Osamu Tezuka. While most of the shirts focus on AstroBoy (to celebrate 50 years of the AstroBoy anime), the set also has 2 Black Jack shirts and a Phoenix shirt.

Quantities are limited so order your shirts today!!

In the adventure board game Fortune and Glory, pulp heroes travel the world in search of rare and dangerous artifacts while fending off Nazis, zombies, cultists and each other. Watch out for the Nazi War Zeppelin!

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Download in iTunes

This week Cartoon Network’s Brad Merritt and No, You Shut Up Games’ Tim Johnson continue to discuss Casual Connect: 2013! in all its glory!

A Certain Magical Index/Scientific Railgun ESPer antihero Accelerator is set to star in a "Certain Scientific Accelerator" spin-off manga. Arata Yamaji is attached to the title, set to launch in the February issue of Dengeki Daioh, which goes on sale December 27th.

via Natalie

Drink #044: Baltimore Zoo,
Otakon 2013

This year’s Otakon was a mega-blowout of guests, music, and friends. To discuss the highs and lows of the weekend with us we have Patz from The Cockpit and Ed Sizemore of the defunct Manga Out Loud.

RSS Feed     -     iTunes Feed

(Listen)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Baltimore Zoo

More Otakon 2013 posts:

Otakon 2013: Tweets
Otakon 2013: Our 6 Favorite Announcements
Otakon 2013: General Impressions
Otakon 2013: Shinichiro Watanabe
Otakon 2013: Artist Alley
All Points Bulletin: Leaving Baltimore, Heading To Las Vegas
Otakon 2013: 10-minutes with Yuzuru Tachikawa and Michihiko Suwa
Otakon 2013: Concerts
Otakon 2013: Guests
Otakon 2013: Shingo Adachi and Tetsuya Kawakami
Otakon 2013: Fan Panels
All Points Bulletin: The Gamification of Otakon

The beautiful, wildly surreal Revolutionary Girl Utena is an absolute favourite anime of mine, and criminally under-represented in the figure world. I didn't have much hope of that changing either, since the show is more than a decade old and was only ever a cult hit.

This just shows that you shouldn't trust me however, since recent scans revealed that Megahouse are working on a brand new version of lead character Utena Tenjou. Weirdly enough it's in their G.E.M. range, which has been near exclusively male to this point. I'll take it though, even though all we've got a the moment is this silhouette and a promise. We'll bee keeping a close eye out for more details in the future.

[via 2chan]

A mathematician, a physicist, an economist, a computer scientist, and an engineer try to split a check. If that sounds like the setup to a joke, that's because it is—a wonderfully nerdy joke from Ben Orlin's Math with Bad Drawings.

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The Normandy SR2, Shepard & Co.'s ship from Mass Effect 2, couldn't get a better memento as far as I'm concerned. YouTuber ultrabrilliant's amazing clip is the latest one in his series celebrating beautiful game worlds.

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It was confirmed yesterday that Japanese singer-songwriter Yasuyuki Okamura's 27th single "Viva Namida" will be featured as the theme song for the upcoming sci-fi comedy TV anime Space Dandy.　It will be his first single in six years since "Hakkiri Motto Yukan ni Natte" in 2007. The song was already played in his spring tour and well-received by the Japanese fans. A fully-animated promotional video featuring Okamura as an anime character is also planned. The CD single will be released in Japan on October 2.

Space Dandy is produced by BONES (Eureka Seven) and will be premiere in Japan in January 2014. The project was already revealed at this year's Otakon by Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop) who serves as the general director with character designer Yoshiyuki Ito (Star Driver).

Yasuyuki Okamura

Rough sketches for the anime PV

"Space Dandy" key visual

Source: BARKS

© 2014 BONES / Project SPACE DANDY

© Yasuyuki Okamura

As I was waiting in line to play, one of the first things that stood out to me about the new Persona 4 Arena was the visual tonal shift from the original Persona 4 Arena.

Read New Persona 4 Arena Seems Closer In Tone To Persona 3 on Siliconera!

In Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark's dire wolf Lady met an untimely end as a sacrifice to mollify the queen's anger after Arya's dire wolf Nymeria bit Prince Joffrey (and then ran away). In real life, however, Lady's doing much better — especially after actress Sophie Turner adopted the Mahlek Northern Inuit Dog who played her.

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It's no secret how truly horrifying Nintendo's "cute" Pikmin series is, so it makes sense to combine it with the intense hopelessness of Attack on Titan. All is not lost, however, when the eponymous critters get their hands on some 3D Maneuver Gear and attempt to take back the garden. 

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.

The opening video for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Start Battle popped up online ahead of the game's August 29 release.

Read JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle Opening Isn’t Bizarre At All on Siliconera!