Hasta La Gadget!

Jed Henry lit the Internet on fire with his ukiyo-e-style art. Then he worked with woodblock artist David Bull to turn those artworks into actual ukiyo-e prints, which are now under the brand Ukiyoe Heroes. Now Jed and Dave have started a sillier offshoot called Chibi Heroes.

Like the original series, Chibi Heroes are also woodblock prints featuring videogame characters, but they are smaller and simpler. Jed and David hope that “[b]y producing both difficult and rudimentary prints, all of Dave’s apprentices will be challenged according to their experience level. This is our plan to train the next generation of woodblock printers in Japan, and the plan is happening!”

Currently you can order Chibi Heroes on a subscription basis only. For $20 (USD) a month you’ll get two woodblock prints; you can also pay extra to catch up on the previously released prints. Chibi Heroes will eventually be sold separately on the Ukiyoe Heroes website, but Jed didn’t give a specific timetable so it might take a while before that happens.

[via Jed Henry via Ian Brooks]

The publisher of PlayStation: The Official Magazine has confirmed to Game Informer that the Sony-minded periodical will board up its doors by year’s end. This isn’t the first gaming zine that publisher Future US has called it quits on this year — news of Nintendo Power’s closure broke this August. Just like the Nintendo-centric themed publication, the PlayStation mag’s last issue will be its holiday edition. However, unlike Newsweek’s leap to a purely digital existence, there’s no indication that the magazine could see life online.

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Sony

PlayStation: The Official Magazine being shuttered, will say farewell with holiday issue originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s no secret that print media is on its way out, as many regional and niche publications have had to either find a path through the digital wilderness or fold completely. We’re still not used to national publications facing that ultimatum, though, which makes Newsweek‘s fresh decision to drop its print edition after December 31st both unusual and a bellwether. Anyone still yearning for the magazine’s content after the presses stop will have to turn to the purely digital Newsweek Global or its The Daily Beast sibling, no matter how attached they are to the outlet’s 80-year history with paper. The explanation for the cutoff remains a familiar story: print readership is dying on the vine and expensive to maintain, while web and tablet adoption is growing quickly enough that Newsweek believes it can make the switch without taking a long-term financial hit. Whether or not the transition works, it’s evident the periodical knows its identity must be wrapped around an online presence — figuratively, not literally.

Filed under: Tablets, Internet

Newsweek to drop print edition after December 31st, gives the digital future a warm hug originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most people are already going the paperless route. It began with more personal stuff, like sending notes and messages digitally instead of through paper. It eventually expanded to the corporate world, where communications and memos are sent via email instead of through actual paper memos.

But bringing that printing mentality back to life, albeit in a small way, is the mPrinter. It’s a project by Andy Muldowney that’s currently up for funding on Kickstarter.

Similar to the (much more expensive) Berg Little Printer, It’s basically a small analog printer that’ll print anything you command it to, from text and doodles to Sudoku grids and weather reports. USB-only mPrinters hook up to your computer via USB cable, while Wi-Fi-capable mPrinters contain built-in web servers that can connect to your network.

The mPrinter will also come with an iOS and Android app that will let you use the quick print option, manage your mPrints, and take advantage of the fun ‘doodle’ feature.

A minimum pledge of $80 will get you one USB-only mPrinter, while the Wi-Fi one requires a minimum pledge of $125. Back the project and find out more about it on the mPrinter Kickstarter page.

We’ve featured Jed Henry’s Ukiyo-e style prints of videogame characters before. Now’s your chance to own printed versions of his amazing art, featuring characters from popular franchises including Super Mario Bros., Zelda and Street Fighter.

Jed Henry is offering all 12 of his designs in digital print forms. But he’s also working with a woodblock print maker named David Bull to make woodblock prints by hand, i.e. the way Ukiyo-e were made centuries ago.

Here’s Bull making the first woodblock print of Henry’s art:

As you can see it’s quite a painstaking process, which is why Henry has set up a Kickstarter fundraiser. A pledge of at least $40 (USD) gets you a digital print (you can choose which of Henry’s designs to order) while you’ll have to cough up $135 to get a handmade woodblock print.

Currently only the Mario Kart print has a woodblock proof, i.e. template, but Henry did say that they’ll make proofs for the other designs if they exceed their $10,000 goal. Thankfully as of this writing they’ve already gathered more than $50,000 in pledges, and that’s with 28 days to go. I think it’s safe to say we can expect more designs for the woodblock prints.

[via GoNintendo]