Nerd Stalker

gumi COO Takeshi Sankawa talks about Japanese mobile gaming market and expansion into international waters Foreign games in the US are not just about localization anymore. At a recent preview event at the Blackbird Bar in San Francisco, two Japanese companies - gumi and Colopl previewed some of their titles geared towards the western market. We sat down with gumi COO, Takeshi Sankawa, and talked about the world's #1 mobile game market - Japan, where mobile is bigger than console. Sankawa also gives a view of what the role of big Japanese game studios is for game developers(Japan & US) to enter new markets on both sides of the ocean. Give it a view.

Anon Miyamoto's Magic Flute Appears on the Mobile as a Puzzle Game What happens when a Mozart opera becomes game like and then turns into a game? That is exactly what has happened with the Mozart opera and what the iOS Game Magic Flute has turned into. Released worldwide in September, the game actually comes form Japanese director Anon Miyamoto's vision " as an allegoric trip through the virtual landscapes of a video game."   The game  was selected as the  “Best in Show”  title by the folks from  Gamezebo.   Check out designer Olaf Morelewski's interview about the game at the Casual Connect - San Francisco.

Adolfo & Greg Talk About Trending Weekly Tech News Adolfo Foronda and Greg Viloria discuss the weekly tech news in their mind's eye. Check it out!

SF Japan Night is back. btrax  is bringing 6 semi-finalists from the February event in Tokyo who will be pitching on March 5 at YetiZen . These promising startups will be judged by group of great tech community leaders like Shirley Lin of 800birds , Ahmed Siddiqui of SignalFire , Edith Yeung of Right Ventures and Dolphin,  Ray Grieselhuber of Ginzamarkets, Inc and  Igor Shoifot investor with TMT Investments and chairman of  HappyFarm . Always a great turnout and interesting startups to view. Order your tickets here .

Picture Credit: PARO Happy New Year everyone! As you know, I follow Asia/Japan tech trends. I was watching an NHK World journalistic piece on robotic therapy for Dementia using a baby seal called PARO and wanted to investigate this trend more.  Interestingly, there is a sizable debate amongst medical professionals and sociologists on whether robots like PARO can replace the human element versus aiding health professionals caring for patients. 

Download MP3 Adolfo Foronda (@nerdstalker) and Greg Viloria (@SocialGreg) Weekly Picks for the Nerd Stalker Techweek Podcast: How Serious Is Facebook About Search? http://selnd.com/Huh71J by greg sterling  Japanese Court Tells Google to Stop Search Autocomplete in Japan - http://bit.ly/H7bnOW via @geekosystem  Research In Motion is dead http://bit.ly/H4bMTP via BGR  Do Not Track: FTC calls on Congress, firms to protect consumer privacy | via @ABroaderView http://bit.ly/GYoos5   Airbnb, other sites owe city hotel tax, SF says Speed round , what our community is talking about and wants to hear about: Tweet Seats: A Special Section In Theaters For… | Bit Rebels http://bit.ly/GTJdaz   Lumia 900 Nokia Windows Phone  Half of U.S. homes own Apple products | @scoopit via @rsaltzhe http://bit.ly/H2ssbl   Selling used Android phones poses huge identity theft risk, expert says http://bit.ly/H7Erk k via BGR oh and Instagram is now on Androi...

Clipped from: www.btrax.com ( share this clip ) Listen to our interview with the CEO Brandon Hill.

Nerd Stalker contributor Ramine Darabiha interview with Finland based startup LucSens founder Lulian Florea. LucSens uses state-of-the art technology in computer vision, revealing you the possibility to get instant translation from Chinese or Japanese to English by taking pictures with your mobile device.