Sega Ships Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F to North American Retailers

[Shawn Zipay]

I have no idea what this game is even about but I'll be damned if that isn't the most insane name for a game I've seen in recent memory. Sega's Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F has shipped to retailers in North America today for the PlayStation 3 and is available on the PlayStation Network.

This is the first console game released for the virtual singer in the West, and is the ultimate rhythm game where players can experience a concert with Hatsune Miku at any given moment. The game includes all of the updated graphics, additional songs, and features of the Japanese version.

Hatsune Miku is the world's most popular digital singer produced by Crypton Future Media,INC. Her popularity continues to increase in the West, with over 1 Million dedicated Western fans on Facebook. Step onto the world's ultimate stage and join Hatsune Miku in an all-new video game featuring selections from her most popular songs. Experience Miku’s music like never before as you test your skills by tapping buttons to the beat. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F features 38 unique songs including popular tracks like Tell Your World and Black★Rock Shooter. Players can choreograph, create and share their own Miku videos in “Edit Mode” and can customize the popular diva with over 90 costumes and 100 accessories.

Wait wait wait. Wait a minute. Hold on. What? I need to look into this real quick (you'll never know I was gone since this won't be posted until I'm back anyway).

Alright, so this is a thing.

This is a game based off of a "real" digital anime singer? That's it, I'm done with posting news for a while today. This is too much even for me.

[K-16]

[del]Well... It started off as a really fancy technology for text-to-singing from Yamaha Corporation, where it allows custom adjustments to correct and create a more human-like voice in comparison to Microsoft's text-to-speech offerings. Crypton Future Media published the software as Vocaloid, and created Hatsune Miku as a mascot and example of the text-to-singing technology, figuring the Japanese culture surrounding J-Pop idols (is there a difference between an idol and a diva?) are a suitable way of demonstrating Yamaha's technology (technically it was a team at a university in Barcelona). Its original intended use was to allow musicians to add in vocals to songs at a low cost without making the singing sound tone-deaf.

Well... That popularity exploded nation-wide (and in parts of various countries around the world), Niconico videos (that were eventually imported to YouTube) were flooded with Hatsune Miku videos of any song anybody can think of, and Cypton Future Media's/Yamaha's newfound focus has almost nothing to do with their years of R&D for text-to-singing, with the point being horrendously derailed. Alas, Hatsune Miku as a real-life pop idol was born (instead of being parodied), and all that R&D went into making her into a franchise. Merchandise, manga/anime OVAs, albums, character and lore expansions (now there's a freaking band with their own specialties and voices), and of course, the incredibly expensive 3D laser holographic concert in for the entire performance since no human vocalist is actually performing on-stage (which is the only one existing in the world so far). I should probably mention there were concerts before the one in 2011, but it wasn't holographic.

Honestly, making a rhythm game series with SEGA being the next step is the most normal thing done given how derailed the Vocaloid software has become. It's so horribly abused that it's not even about marketing to musicians anymore. Now it's just the brand and franchise of the band (Hatsune has actually been taking somewhat of a backseat with cameo roles since the other members are more prominent to the spotlight lately). I do find it weird that we're getting the second newest installment in the series though; figured they would introduce the franchise with the one coming out in Japan next year instead.[/del]

[CptainCrunch]

This must be huge as this article has over a hundred hits on it already. That's more than most the BF4 news when it's first announced.