Japan is often thought of as the land of technological innovation. The nation has certainly developed a reputation as such, with the vast majority of the world’s interactive, entertainment and medical technology being birthed there. Adding to this concept, the developers of the massively popular Vocaloid system, a synthetic voice generation program used to create songs, have begun using augmented reality to bring their line of famous characters to new life.
Vocaloid first began gathering a massive following the introduction of Hatsune Miku, the program’s female persona, in 2007. The developers of Vocaloid, Crypton Future Media, had sought to create a platform through artists could create high quality electronic music without having to rely on real instruments of singers. Miku was introduced as the program’s flagship personality and quickly became a Japanese pop-music icon. Despite Miku’s fictional existence, the synthetic singer has performed live on stage throughout much of Japan, appearing as a hologram.
Now acclaimed game development company Sega is working on a new game that will feature Hatsune Miku. The game will be released for the Nintendo 3DS platform and will make use of the systems augmented reality capabilities to bring a miniaturized Miku to life in much the same way she is portrayed in her concerts. This may appeal to fans of Vocaloid, who will be accompanied by their own representation of Miku that will follow them wherever they go.
