One of the great ancillary effects of the popularity of The Hunger Games is the renewed exposure it is generating for the certified classic, Battle Royal. The Japanese film is a bit over a decade old and has grown a huge international following, yet it never really broken out overseas.

Hopefully that will change now that the film is getting it’s first US official Blu-Ray release.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Battle Royal here is the official synopsis:

In the near future, the economy has collapsed, unemployment has soared and juvenile crime has exploded. Fearful of their nation’s youth, the Japanese government passes The BR Law: Each year, a 9th grade class is sent to a remote island where they will be locked into exploding neck collars, given a random weapon, and forced to hunt and kill each other until there is only one survivor left.

To celebrate the new release we have two new clips from the impending blu-ray set. The first clip is from the film itself and showcases some of the harsh brutality of the film. Keep in mind this is a red band clip, but for those of you who are on the fence this should help convince you. The second showcases  behind the scenes footage of that same scene, giving you a sense of how deep the extras content truly goes.

The Blu-Ray set hits March 20th and you can check out the clips after the jump.

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The PS Vita is Sony’s latest attempt to conquer the handheld gaming market. The technology is impressive, but the marketplace has never been more crowded with the growth of phone and tablet gaming, and the of course Nintendo’s iron grip on portables. The Vita hit stores in Japan last week in advance of it’s early 2012 worldwide release and it made a very admirable showing.

Reuters is reporting that the first two days of the system’s launch saw 321,400 units sold. That number is smaller than the Nintendo 3DS’ initial launch of 371,00 units sold, but is impressive considering the context.

The 3Ds was launching a new technology attached to the incredible successful DS brand. The Vita is coming out after a history of sub par Sony portable devices, including the PSP Go which was a bomb. The sales numbers are very nice for Sony but they need to maintain sales over a few years before the new portable device can be called a win.

In hopes to maintain a strong open for the device Sony has a solid 24 game launch window lineup and will be pushing PS3 to PS Vita connection to make the device a regular part of Sony gamer’s experience.

The Vita will be hitting US shelves in February in Wifi and 3G/Wifi models.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the devastating events taking place in Japan following the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami. If you’re feeling the same way (and we’re sure you are) and want to do something to help those affected, Apple has made it easier to do so.

The company has posted a donation page on iTunes where you can use your iTunes account to make a secure donation to the American Red Cross and its Japanese relief fund. 100% of donations made this way go to the American Red Cross. Apple is not taking a piece as it does with other iTunes transactions.

Of course, this isn’t the only way you can help. If you don’t have an iTunes account or don’t want to go through Apple, there are many other ways to make a difference.

TUAW contributor Rick Martin, who is currently in Japan, has put together a good list of donation sites where you can go. The list is very comprehensive and you should have no trouble finding a way to help.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  It was a serviceable action flick in which Hugh Jackman brought his Wolverine A-game to the big screen once more. That is, of course, when Ryan Reynolds wasn’t completely upstaging him as Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool) in the first act of the film (the last act, no so much).

That said, I was encouraged by the film’s success for two reasons. The first, and most obvious (to me anyway), it would hopefully pave the way for a Deadpool spin-off movie, and second it would lead to a Wolverine sequel set in Japan. In past interviews Jackman has made no secret of  wanting to tell Wolverine’s tale set in Japan, a fact he reiterated in an interview with Katie “I’m not, like, a Wolverine Person” Couric (her words not mine):

“The whole time, from when I began, the one storyline that I went, ‘That’s a movie!’ — because I was reading the comics — was this whole saga in Japan, which was really beautiful and different and fantastic.”

Wolvie and ninjas! Where can I buy my ticket now?  I couldn’t agree more with Jackman’s sentiment about this particular story arc. The man behind it was legendary comic writer Chris Claremont who, in my opinion, wrote some of the most engaging stories for our favorite mutants.  I can’t wait to see where this goes and we’ll keep you up-to-date as the film develops.

In the meantime you can watch the CBS interview with Jackman after the jump.

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There’s lots to see and do at the upcoming Anime Expo in Los Angeles. The expo, a production of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, showcases the best in anime and manga, serves to foster trade, commerce and the interests of the general public and animation and comics industry.

The event, which is the largest of its kind on North America, goes from July 2 through July 5, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Be sure to check out some video of the group after the break.

Here’s some info about the show, and its guests of honor, from the official press release:

Visual kei fans get ready for a musical explosion as Moi dix Mois rocks Anime Expo® 2009 as an official Guest of Honor for the nation¹s largest anime and manga convention. Moi dix Mois is a sound project headed by Mana, the consummate guitarist and leader of Malice Mizer which is on indeterminate hiatus.

In addition to writing music and lyrics, Mana does all of the computer programming and arrangements for his songs. Mana¹s strikingly electrifying and unprecedented musical creation is the result of his remarkable talent to combine the diametrical opposites, such as the classical and the avant-garde, the elegant and the delirious, or the creative and the destructive.

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