Yen Press licenses Highschool of the Dead, Betrayal Knows My Name, The Bride's Stories, and Higurashi – Demon Exposing Arc: Manga distributor Yen Press announced a number of new manga at Comic-Con, namely Highschool of the Dead by Daisuke Satō and Shoji Sato, Betrayal Knows My Name, a.k.a. UraBoku, by Hotaru Odagiri, The Bride's Stories by Kaoru Mori, and Higurashi: When They Cry Demon-Exposing Arc by En Kitou. [Source: ANN]

Manga scanlation aggregator OneManga shuts down: It would seem that the coalition of US and Japanese manga publishers who joined together last month to fight piracy has actually struck a chord with fan-run scanlation sites. OneManga, one of the largest aggregators of manga scanlations, has announced that they "have decided to abide by [the publishers'] wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site." The announcement has sparked widespread rage from manga readers who have relied on the site for up-to-date (albeit illegal) translations of their favorite series. I'm personally glad to see the site go, as it aggregated many licensed manga series, but it will be a shame to lose a source of obscure, unlicensed manga. [Source: ANN]

Square Enix announces e-manga distribution service: In response to the previously mentioned fight against scanlations, Square Enix recently announced their plan to legally distribute manga online, which will — in theory — help alleviate the perceived drought of online manga caused by the shutdown of scanlation sites. The Japanese publisher's site already features free downloads of the first chapters of Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Black Butler, and O-Parts Hunter, while it lists The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Pandora Hearts, Sumomomo Momomo, and Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning as "Coming Soon." Square Enix has made it clear that the paid subscription service may not feature all of those manga series when it launches in fall 2010. [Source: ANN]

On the topic of GDH (Gonzo Digital Holdings, the studio behind Origin), FUNimation has finally solidified a new deal with the struggling studio, which cut its anime production in half just a few months ago in response to economic and industry pressures. The company has been attempting to reap a profit from streaming its shows for free on websites like CrunchyRoll, but most reports are saying that the endeavor has not brought in much money for Gonzo. Oddly enough, the move to CrunchyRoll was seen by many as a betrayal of FUNimation, which has so often handled the American distribution of Gonzo's properties, but was now out of the loop as the studio dealt directly with video distributors.

In response, the apparently forgiving (or just smart) folks at FUNimation have agreed to pair up with GDH and take over North American distribution for all of its properties. That includes video streaming sites, presumaly meaning that FUNi would regain its place as the middleman between GDH and CrunchyRoll, which Hulu would probably also see an increase in Gonzo titles hosted on its service. The first titles to be taken over by FUNimation are The Tower of Druaga and Blassreiter, the first series that GDH ever broadcast simultaneously.

I think that it is simply amazing that Gonzo took such a risk in moving to a simultaneous broadcast, streaming video model, and despite their losses, were able to hold out until this new development. Now FUNimation has followed in GDH's footsteps and even supported the studio, and the entire anime industry (FUNi pretty much controls the whole thing) is finally participating heavily in the video distribution market – the true future of the industry in this blogger's opinion.

Finally, AD Vision, once the most preeminent anime distributor in the country, now nearly license-less and struggling to maintain relevance, has put some of its Anime Network titles on the iTunes store. While I don't think that this will have a big effect on the company's fortunes, it should be able to provide some income from their anime properties, since the sales through the iTunes Store are almost pure profit. The titles now available for download are Angelic Layer, Mahoromatic, Pet Shop of Horrors, Saiyuki, and Tsukihime.

And with that, I think that I can confidently say that the anime industry is finally moving in the right direction, with video streaming, simultaneous broadcasts, and direct downloads all options for those who want to watch their anime for free or cheap online (and without fansubs). Now that's change we can believe in. (I couldn't help it!)

Speaking of CrunchyRoll, the website announced a couple of days ago that in celebration of "Global Shinkai Day," they will be streaming three of director Makoto Shinkai's works (5 Centimeters Per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, and The Place Promised In Our Early Days) on Saturday, February 28 for 24 hours only. I've yet to experience Shinkai's critically-acclaimed anime, so I'll definitely be taking advantage of that limited time offer come Saturday to watch 5 Centimeters Per Second, a movie that is unfortunately stuck in limbo, as no North American anime distributor has officially picked it up yet.

Best Buy is cutting down on their in-store anime selection due to the economic situation, but it's not all bad news for anime fans. Select stores will be holding 50% off sales, which will make that Haruhi boxset that you haven't bought yet seem so. much. jucier. ANN has a preliminary list of participating stores, but it's still subject to change.

For those of you who watched the Oscars, you might have noticed that when La Maison En Petits Cubes won the award for Best Animated Short Film, it was not a French animator who stood up to take the award. That's because despite it's extremely French name, Cubes is actually an anime, created by Japanese director and writer Kunio Kato. This marks the second Oscar win for an anime, and the first in the Animated Short Film Category. (Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away won for Best Animated Picture in 2003.)

Finally, on the video game front, Nintendo has announced a release date for the DSi, the third redesign of the bestselling DS platform. The system will launch in the United States on April 5, 2009 in two colors (blue and black) and for an MSRP of $169.99. It will sell millions and will top the NPD charts for months on end, despite the fact that it provides no significant gameplay upgrades to the DS Lite. Such is life in this Nintendo-world of ours...

Game Informer: Halo 3 Recon '3 to 5' hours, earn Recon armor / GI: Halo 3 Recon is open-world (Joystiq): According to the latest issue of GameInformer magazine, Halo 3: Recon will not be "a $60 game" and will bemore like "a three to five-hour expansion pack." Not just that, but according to the article, Recon is also an "open-world" title, meaning that Bungie is ditching the linear, run-and-gun FPS gameplay of the previous Halo games. Even though users will be able to acquire the rare, Bungie staff-only "Recon Armor" through the game, I question the validity of a "three to five-hour" "open-world" title. In a "real" open-world game, you spend three to five hours in your inventory alone!

Sony to Release Madhouse's Marvel Hero Anime Worldwide (Anime News Network): Madhouse's anime adaptations of Marvel superheroes will not only be releasing in Japan. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will distribute the series in America after the Iron Man and Wolverine series premiere on Japanese television in Spring 2009. Without question this is Marvel's attempt to fight the popularity of animated feature Batman: Gotham Knight (read Uncle Yo's review). The DVD - propelled by The Dark Knight, no doubt - soared to the top of the anime sales charts in the past months, giving Warner Bros. a significant edge over Sony in the casual anime market.

Assassin's Creed's Altair learns to swim for future project (Joystiq): In an interview with AusGamer, David Wilkinson (animation director for Prince of Persia) was talking about Alex Drouin, animation director for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Assassin's Creed, when he was asked what Drouin is up to now. Wilkinson, in a classic moment of slipped tongues, replied, "He's busy making Altair even more beautiful. Last thing I saw him do was getting Altair to swim." There's pretty much nothing that you can glean from this except that there is a sequel to Assassin's Creed coming (as if that wasn't clear), and that the main character Altair will indeed be able to swim this time around.

U.S. Copyright Law That Allows Equipment Seizures Signed (Anime News Network): President George W. Bush recently signed into law a bill called PRO-IP (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property), which will create a position known as the "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator," in charge of tracking down and dealing with copyright infringers, much in a similar fashion to the War on Drugs.

An earlier version of the bill would have allowed the government to sue on behalf of rights holders, something that would put anime fansubbing in grave, grave danger. The most important point about the law is that it allows the government to seize any and all equipment (i.e. your computer) if there is evidence of copyright infringement, and sue again if any more infringing material is found therein.

Konami: 'We're actively looking' into MGS4 on Xbox 360 (Joystiq): According to Japanese investment research firm Morningstar, game developer Konami is "actively looking into a [Metal Gear Solid 4] release for the Xbox 360." We've known for a while that the developers of the hit game were thinking of bringing it over to the Xbox 360, but the recent multi-console movement among big games like Final Fantasy XIII just might push Konami to finally make the jump.