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Polaroid Rebrands Fuji Instax 7S, Sells as “New” 300

magnetic_rose — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:22:34 +0000

Polaroid delivers on promises to make its signature instant photography cameras available to the market again, but not in the way most people had imagined.

Instead of coming up with cheaper, more readily-available film or producing newer versions of its classic cameras, Polaroid has instead partnered with rival Fuji to rebrand and re-release Instax products bearing the Polaroid name.

The new Polaroid 300 is almost identical to the Instax 7 series from Japan, with the only differences being cosmetic in nature. The 300 bears Polaroid’s badge instead of Fuji’s, and comes in three new colors not available with the Japanese maker.

The film stock is also identical — the 300 uses refills of ten credit card-sized prints housed in an easy loading cartridge. There is no official word yet if Fuji Instax Mini refills can be used with the Polaroid 300, but with the way both cameras are set up I won’t be too surprised if they are interchangeable.

Personally, given how much I love both my Polaroid and my Instax cameras I am quite upset with the way things have turned out. I’ve been hoping that Polaroid reconsider their stand on film production and start selling their iconic square refills again. Instead, what they gave us is poorly disguised Instax Mini, never mind that Fuji already has its own band of followers and enthusiasts separate from the Polaroid tribe.

POLAROID I AM DISAPPOINT >:( This goes to Fuji as well for agreeing to go along with this farce. I’m going to sulk in my corner now.

Thanks to fellow Instax enthusiast Shabby for the heads-up.

Otakai Moves to New Forums

magnetic_rose — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:25:51 +0000

The sudden closure of free forums host IPBFree due to alleged Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations, has also unfortunately taken down Otakai Figure Society — a message board for Filipino collectors of Japanese toys and figures.

But there is good news for Otakai members — the group has now moved to its own domain and servers. Otakai is now located at otakaifiguresociety.org. The forums are currently in beta stage as the moderators try to rebuild the forums from the ground up. If you were a member of Otakai at the IPBFree boards, please sign up again to posting at the new Otakai. See you guys there!

Street Fighter, Tekken Crossovers Announced at SDCC

magnetic_rose — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:25:50 +0000

Via Kotaku: there’s Street Fighter in your Tekken, and Tekken in your Street Fighter. Capcom and Namco have jointly announced at the San Diego Comic Convention that they will be releasing two crossover games for each of their iconic fight game franchises.

Capcom ‘s Street Fighter X Tekken will feature SF IV’s game play mechanics, including fireballs, air juggles, and other special moves. In contrast, Tekken x Street Fighter will feature more hand-to-hand and grapple based fighting in a 3D environment.

Both games are currently in development, and gamers may not see either titles for several months.

Manga Toshokan Follows One Manga, Culls Library

magnetic_rose — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:07:58 +0000

Another online manga provider Manga Toshokan follows One Manga’s suit and voluntarily culls most of its library of illegally uploaded manga scanlations.

Manga Toshokan’s actions are likewise in light of a recent statement given out by a coalition of Japanese publishers and their foreign partners to stop the illegal distribution of manga on the internet.

However, Manga Toshokan — in an attempt to keep some of its readership, has chosen to retain its Chinese manhwa and Korean manhua library, as well as several Japanese titles not covered by the coalition. Manga Toshokan is also running a survey to get some solid opinions on how the publishers coalition’s actions are affecting their readers.

Thanks to Sese for the heads-up.

22 July 2010 — One Manga Shuts Down to Avoid Legal Woes
11 June 2010 — Japanese Manga Publishers and Foreign Licensees to Fight Scanlations
19 January 2010 — Bent: Genderswapping and Drag in Japanese Doujinshi
6 November 2009 — Meiji University Opens Manga Library
18 August 2009 — Comic Market 76, Or Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

One Manga Shuts Down to Avoid Legal Woes

magnetic_rose — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:52:41 +0000

Online manga provider One Manga is one of the first big sites to voluntarily shut down operations following a joint statement released by Japanese publishers and their foreign licensees that they aim to stamp out scanlations and the illegal distribution of manga on the internet.

Manga publishers and their overseas partners have been plagued with sluggish sales for two years in a row, and they blame the phenomenon on the easy and free accessibility of their oftentimes illegally uploaded material on the web.

There are literally thousands of free manga servers and scanlation sites operating on the internet, with many of the largest sites getting up to millions of hits per day. The high volume of internet traffic converts into a significant ad revenue for some of these sites, which make them prime targets for Cease and Desist orders by the copyright holders of the content they are distributing without a license.

The coalition’s next target is scanlation circles — groups of fans who scan, translate, and distribute manga without a license, although some publishers like DMP would like to work with these circles as subcontractors for creating and distributing licensed titles. DMP hopes to create a new distribution channel that promotes profit-sharing between the official overseas license holders, the scanlation circles who will be working on the titles, and the original authors and publishers in Japan.

Thanks to Wildquaker for the heads-up.

23 July 2010 — Manga Toshokan Follows One Manga, Culls Library
11 June 2010 — Japanese Manga Publishers and Foreign Licensees to Fight Scanlations
18 June 2010 — DMP to Tap Scanlation Circles for New Project
19 January 2010 — Bent: Genderswapping and Drag in Japanese Doujinshi
6 November 2009 — Meiji University Opens Manga Library

magnetic-rose.net: Japanese Pop Culture for Filipino Fans » Akihabara

Polaroid Rebrands Fuji Instax 7S, Sells as “New” 300

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