Japanese VR performance platform VARK has raised 200 million yen

Japanese VR performance platform VARK has raised 200 million yen in an investment round led by venture capital ANRI.

VARK is a platform for virtual artists to hold shows and is like a VR club. It supports Oculus Quest, Oculus Go and PlayStation VR, and the application is free to download. Every time the show is held, fans of the virtual artists will purchase virtual tickets and enter the venue of the VR world just like a real show. They held first show on Christmas Eve 2018 and have held shows for various virtual artists so far. Recently, musicals have also been performed.



They have also begun to support real-life artists who have been unable to hold shows due to the coronavirus pandemic. So far, they have held shows of virtual artists, but in the future they want to virtualize real artists and bring them to the VR world.
The funds they raised will focus on developing new features and recruiting new talent.

Local-limited Pokemon goods can be mail-ordered now

Pokemon is implementing a local economic promotion project called "Pokemon Local Act" in Japan. It is a project that appeals to the charm of Pokemon and the regions of Japan, and in cooperation with the local companies, and sell Pokemon collaboration products limited to each regions.

Usually these products are not sold online. Because Pokemon staff and local companies are hoping that Pokemon fans will actually come to the regions, feel the charm of it and buy collaboration products. In other words, this project is a tourism promotion project, and local Pokemon products are only sold in each regions.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, people are now unable to leave their homes. So local companies have decided to sell Pokemon collaboration products on online.
Currently, Pokemon products of Hokkaido, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Tottori and Kagawa are sold online.

Products list:
https://local.pokemon.jp/info/ec2020.html

Unfortunately they don't support international shipping, but once the coronavirus pandemic has ended, please go on a trip to these regions and buy local Pokemon products.

"The local power is awesome!"

Japan's largest indie game show BitSummit will hold an online event due to the coronavirus pandemic

Many events are currently being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. BitSummit, Japan's largest indie game show, is one of them. So they will hold an online event "BitSummit Gaiden" from June 27th to 28th.

BitSummit is Japan's largest indie game festival held in Kyoto every year. Their purpose is to "show Japanese interesting indie games to foreign countries" and was launched in the latter half of 2012. The initial number of visitors was small, about 200, but in 2018 the number of visitors exceeded 11,000 and grew into a huge event.
They planned to hold it again in May this year, but postponed it due to a coronavirus pandemic. So they are holding BitSummit Gaiden, an online showcase of games from developers who couldn't attend the event.
These are the contents of the event.

-Live streaming via BitSummit official Twitch channel
-Virtual developers booths where you can interact with developers on Discord
-Live streaming by influencers
-Demo play of selected games sponsored by BitSummit

Information about special guest speakers, influencers, and sponsors will be announced on the BitSummit website, Twitter, and Facebook soon. In addition, a charity related to the coronavirus pandemic is planned.

Japanese mobile game superstar Nameko is back with power-ups

Nameko is a veteran Japanese mobile game character. Many games and character goods have been released since his/her first mobile game Mushroom Garden(Nameko Saibai Kit : なめこ栽培キット) was released in June 2011. True, his/her recent popularity has settled down, but he/she continues to update. Mushroom Garden Deluxe Kiwami, the latest mobile game from the Nameko series, has been released today. Download is free(iOS/Android).

This is a renewal version of Mushroom Garden Deluxe released in 2012, which is more playable and more powerful. The high quality game screen, the addition of new Namekos, allows you to harvest more than 700 Namekos. Also, new background music and new features have been added.

Unfortunately, the English version has not been released yet, but since the Nameko series up to now is available in multiple languages including English, probably this will also be released in English.
Even so, this series is really fatal. The first game was released three months after The Great East Japan Earthquake and the latest release of the series was released during the coronavirus pandemic. Nameko is a Japanese time-killing companion.

The postponed movie Black Widow will participate in the VR Creative Festival

Currently, movie theaters throughout Japan are temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and many new movies have been postponed. Black Widow is one of them. It was to be screened this spring, but it was postponed until November. Until then Until, how should they appeal to movie fans? Therefore, Japanese cinema company TOHO Cinemas decided to exhibit it at Virtual Market 4, the world's largest VR creative festival.

Virtual Market is a creative festival in the VR world sponsored by Japanese VR startup HIKKY. 43 companies and 1400 general creators are exhibiting, and various virtual goods made by them are on sale. It's like a real trade show, but because it's a virtual world, the venues are ornately decorated. It's the 4th time this time, and last time there were 710,000 visitors.

TOHO Cinemas will exhibit a booth that recreates their Roppongi Hills theater at this event. They will show the Black Widow trailer and provide free wallpaper images of limited edition, US poster wallpaper images, and US poster images of Marvel Studios movies so far.
In addition, a popular voice actor who is the main cast of the Internet movie show will appear there as an avatar and interact with the visitors.

Virtual Market 4 will be held on VRChat from April 29 to May 10. Please check this URL for how to participate.

https://www.v-market.work/v4/access