Spring training has ended and teams are playing their first game of the season. Yes, it’s Baseball time. The time of year where peanuts, 7th inning stretch, and cheering for your team is here. It’s no surprise that Viz Media’s latest manga announcement will be a story about the game of baseball.

Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game will be coming to North American readers in online previews starting in May on ShonenSunday.com, otherwise the manga comes out in Fall 2010.

Cross Game is about a boy, Ko, and a family of four sisters and the game of baseball.

“Mitsuru Adachi is a legend in Japan, where his work has been loved by fans for more than 40 years, and we’re honored to bring him to a U.S. audience with the launch of CROSS GAME,” says Andy Nakatani, Editorial Manager, VIZ Media. “Readers can go to our Shonen Sunday web site to get a glimpse of how baseball combined with the drama of adolescence, tragedy and newfound loves produces a truly groundbreaking story.”

ShonenSundays.com has various manga previews and some video as well.

The top 16 duelists from the Championship, as well as the top players from the Regional Qualifier on Sunday, earn themselves invitations to participate in their country’s 2010 National Championship. The top three finalists will receive a “Dark End Dragon” prize card, as well as the two finalists from Sunday’s bonus events. Sunday’s bonus events include a Pegasus League event and a Dragon Duel tournament for players 12 and younger. It will be a fun-filled two days for all players that want to test what they have.

Superfrog and LeBasse Projects have come together to provide an exhibit that consists of work from Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano. Amano is known for designing characters for the video game Final Fantasy as well as for anime films such as Vampire Hunter D, Guin Saga, Final Fantasy, and Front Mission. His DEVA LOKA exhibit first premiered in August at the Superfrog Gallery in San Francisco, and it’s now Amano’s first major show in Southern California in almost a decade.

The exhibit consists of 25 pieces, and be prepared for bright auto paint and metallic glitter which is said to be “an ode to the artist’s love of American comics, culture and automobiles”. The exhibit is launching TODAY (the 20th of February) in Los Angeles, and there will be a special opening reception starting at 7pm and running until 10pm if you would like to help celebrate the launch.

Yoshitaka Amano also has this to say about his exhibit:

“Between the late 60′s and the 70′s, and during my early years in the art world, I was greatly influenced by American comic books and pop culture. I’d like to show my gratitude for the inspiration America gave me with this exhibit. With the theme of DEVA LOKA, all of my concepts and influences are able to come together, centered in one place. I hope everyone enjoys my show.”

DEVA LOKA opens today and runs through March 13th at LeBasse Projects, located in Los Angeles’ Culver City Arts District and is located at 6023 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. For more information visit www.lebasseprojects.com.

Zoichi Kanoe plunges into the depths of 9JO, a sprawling island city in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in search of Eon Green, a girl with the power to transmute the N5S virus. The deadly contagion is spreading across the world, turning humans into disfigured, zombie-like “drones.” But he’s not the only one looking for her. Agents of the Public Health Service’s Compulsory Execution Unit are also in hot pursuit, with sinister designs of their own. Zoichi and his trans-human allies have no time to waste; the countdown to the apocalypse has begun!

“Biomega” was created by Tsutomu Nihei. His first manga “BLAME!” won the Shiki Award in Japan, and was nominated for North America’s Harvey Award. He also wrote a Wolverine tie-in which was published by Marvel, and was commissioned by Bungie Studios for the HALO graphic novel.

Leyla Aker, Editorial Manager, VIZ Media:

“Tsutomu Nihei created BIOMEGA with a jaw-dropping, intensely powerful art style that reflects his background in modern architecture,” says Leyla. “The main characters—the “enhanced” human Zoichi and Fuyu, the AI in his rocket of a motorcycle—navigate this apocalyptic landscape in a story that offers pure speed, action, and suspense. Both manga and American comics fans won’t want to miss this exciting debut!”

“BIOMEGA” will be printed under the VIZ Signature imprint, rated ‘M’ for Mature Audiences, and will cost $12.99US or $16.99CAN. If you’d like more information then please visit www.viz.com.

Meet 16 year old Hisayoshi “Kumi” Tajima. He wasn’t looking for somebody to love until he bumps into teen idol Rima Fujio – and since then, he can’t stop thinking about her. Enter Rima’s former agent Ikeshiba who offers Hisayoshi a chance to meet up with Rima again by way of making Hisayoshi an idol! Unfortunately, Rima doesn’t seem to be keen on this and thinks Hisayoshi is competing for Ikeshiba’s attention.

Elizabeth Kawasaki, Senior Editorial Director, VIZ Media:

“CROWN OF LOVE offers a complex story of unrequited love between a pair of teenagers who are each on the brink of stardom,” says Elizabeth. “Creator Yun Kouga has already attracted legions of North American fans with her popular manga series GESTALT, also published by VIZ Media, and we look forward to readers enjoying this new story about two driven characters who find out that fame and life in the limelight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“CROWN OF LOVE” can be found available under the Shojo Beat imprint, as of February 2nd. It will be rated “T+” for Older Teens, and can be expected to cost $9.99US or $12.99CAN. For any info on this release, or other shojo manga releases, visit www.shojobeat.com.

This nothing like the CES to get the gadgets section full of items. It is also no surprise that a number of large electronic companies have waited to unveil new and up coming items. Dell has unveiled a number of new items that they will be selling within the coming year. They are sub divided into three headings, smartphones, laptops and tablets.

Smartphone:
In terms of smartphones, Dell is moving into that business. They showed the Mini 3. This phone is a phone that is based off the Andriod phone and was developed in conjunction with AT&T. The phone will be available on AT&T’s network, which makes it the first Andriod based phone to appear on the network. Also, Dell has an agreement with other service providers outside the US such as Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand; AT&T in the United States; M1 and Starhub in Singapore; Maxis in Malaysia; China Mobile in China; and Claro in Brazil, to sell the Mini 3.

This move to develop smartphones, was out of Dell’s participation in a study of those types of phones.

“Smart phones are an extension of Dell’s strategy to develop intelligent and more mobile products that meet the needs of operators and customers,” said Ron Garriques, president, Dell Communication Solutions. “The Mini 3 is a result of listening to customers and creating products that allow people to do the things they want, whenever and wherever they want to do them.”

Source:

Laptops and Personal Computers:

It’s no surprise that that majority of the new from Dell was about computers. To be correct, the news was mainly focused on gaming

and studio computers. They announced the new Alienware M11x, the revamp of the Studio 14 and the continued improvement to the Inspiron line.
(All information was taken from the press releases)

Alien M11x:
· The Alienware M11x demonstrates the graphics power of a 15-inch laptop in an 11-inch form factor

· Play all of your games and media, whether at home or away, at HD 720p resolution

· With the Alienware M11x, gamers can enjoy the feel of the gaming without compromise anywhere they go

The M11x is a part of the Mx line which also includes a 15 and 17 inch laptops. Stats can be found for both of these laptops on Alienware’s site. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a information on the status of the M11x on the website.

Studio:

· Refreshed Studio laptops feature Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and are perfect for sharing photos, music and videos with friends and family.

· Portable Studio 14 available in North America later this month with prices starting at $699.

· Studio 15 has high-definition, 15.6-inch LED widescreen design and is rich with multimedia technology, like True HD resolutions that show off content crisply, starting at $849

· Studio 17 features beautiful 17.3-inch display, with unbelievably realistic audio. Prices start at $949

Tablets:

The last thing that Dell announced was the 5 inch tablet. To date I am unable to find anything about the tablets specs, only images takenfrom the press release. At this time, all I can say is, it looks pretty. When I am able to provide more information, since there was none in the press release, I will post it.

This weekend, January 9-10, the Shonen Jump Championships will be held in Los Angeles. On top of the main tournament, a variety of side events have finally been announced!

Yu-Gi-Oh! video game players interested in getting ahead of the competition for the Video Game World Championship in 2010 shouldn’t miss this chance to try out 5D’s “Reverse of Arcadia.” Duelists looking to play online, with friends or others, won’t want to miss to test out this game before anyone else. Konami will also have demos of a revamped Yu-Gi-Oh! Online game. 5D’s Tagforce 4 will also be available to check out.

If more TCG action is your thing, check out the Pegasus League side event tournaments. If you’ve been working hard on those creative building techniques, this is a great way to show off your skills. Turbo Pack 2 boosters will be the prize. There will also be an “Attack of the Giant Card” tournament, where Konami is offering four world premiere cards from the new Absolute Powerforce set as giant cards.

For those that are interested in the main tournament, it will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center. There is a $20 registration fee, and each player will receive five booster packs just for signing up. The top three finalists of this tournament, as well as the winners of the side event playoffs on Sunday, will receive a “Dark End Dragon” prize card.

The new sets will be released on February 10 with an MSRP of $11.99 for a Theme Deck and $3.79 for booster packs. This set of over 120 cards features the new Pokemon Prime card as well as two dual-card Pokemon Legends, Ho-oh and Lugia. The six Prime cards are: Ampharos, Blissey, Donphan, Feraligatr, Megainum, and Typholosion.

So for all you Pokemon TCG players out there, look for these to be coming to hobby stores near you next month.

Speaking of tournaments, the Pegasus League has finally kicked off! As mentioned in a previous announcement, this League is designed in one- or two-month cycles that feature challenges in deck building and creative playing methods. The first format will start on January 1, 2010 and run through February 28, 2010. Like most challenges, there is a list of legal sets as well as banned cards. That information as well as a FAQ can be found here.

Happy playing!

Stardust Overdrive consists of cards from all three television shows, from the original, to GX, to the current 5D’s. Most of the monsters from 5D’s are brand-new releases as well. There are 48 Commons, 20 Rares, 14 Super Rares, and 10 Ultra Rares in the entire set.

Both booster packs have an MSRP of $3.99 per pack and are available in most hobby and card game stores.