Eva's Misato Hosts Realtime News Show on PS3s in Japan

Bandai NAMCO software uses voice synthesis with Eva character as newscaster.

On the Japanese download service for the Sony PlayStation 3 console, Bandai Namco Games will start offering software that creates a live news program — anchored by Neon Genesis EvangelionMisato Katsuragi News Project (Katsuragi Misato Hōdō Kikaku) software culls the daily news from real-life politics, the economy, the anime industry, and sports. The software then uses the voice synthesis engine from Cellius to have Misato read the news blurbs in realtime as if she was the newscaster for a television program called Nerv News 24. anime character Misato - on June 6. The Users can customize the backdrop of the news program's "studio" as the secretive Nerv organization's headquarters, Misato's dining room, and other options. Users can also customize Misato's clothing and hair.

The software's existence was first revealed in an advertising insert bundled with the Japanese "1.11" Blu-ray Disc release of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone. This film is the first of Hideaki Anno and Khara's four theatrical remakes of Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion science-fiction television anime series. Funimation announced on New Year's Eve that it will release the film in North America this year. The second film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, will open in Japan on June 27.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web