Mission Accepted.....Mission Complete.

July 30, 2011 6:13 AM

Gundam Navi: [Via: Comics Alliance] "If you're a Japanese otaku growing bored of your crippling iPhone GPS dependence, Namco Bandai could have the solution for you -- gaming your way to destinations with Mobile Suit Gundam. Gundam Navi, the first of a line of Character Navi programs, is a new GPS app that transforms a user's commute into "battle events" that pit a location marker against randomly generated enemies lined up on a given route." Gundam Navi is available for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. The app costs ¥3,500 for one year of usage. [Screenshot 1] [Screenshot 2] [Screenshot 3] [Screenshot 4] [Screenshot 5]
posted by Fizz (28 comments total)

Forgot to mention: This application can only be used in Japan. Not applicable for outside of Japan.
posted by Fizz at 6:16 AM on July 30, 2011

Doesn't everyone do this anyway, but with a "racing game" idea? That is: "Whew! Checkpoint!" Especially with those street-wide overhead banners.

Or is that just me? *backs away slowly*
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:26 AM on July 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Makes me nervous. I already have to wonder whether the guy weaving in front of me is either drunk or just an asshole.
posted by FunkyHelix at 6:35 AM on July 30, 2011

Makes me nervous. I already have to wonder whether the guy weaving in front of me is either drunk or just an asshole.

Wonder no longer...he's trying to save the world.
posted by Fizz at 6:37 AM on July 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you end up driving into a ditch, does Burighto-san slap you across the face?
posted by Seiten Taisei at 7:01 AM on July 30, 2011 [3 favorites]

There is some cause for concern for turning your GPS into a video game/anime series. As awesome as this is, there are already enough distractions on the road, worrying about Pegasus class assault carriers...not really helping me.
posted by Fizz at 7:04 AM on July 30, 2011

Sorry I'm late...dinged a Gelgoog.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:15 AM on July 30, 2011

Hey!
Listen!
posted by LogicalDash at 7:28 AM on July 30, 2011 [10 favorites]

30th and Broadway? Sure- take a left on Jaburo Street and follow it up to White Base Road, then make a right onto Johann A. Revil Way. Take that over to Avenue of the Federation, make a right, and follow A Bao A Qu Street for three blocks. When you hit the giant crater in Australia, you've gone too far.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:43 AM on July 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

read that as "Gungan Navi"

totally thought it was going to be about something else
posted by rebent at 8:43 AM on July 30, 2011

Hey!
Listen!

Hey! Listen! Turn left on Maine Street.

If only. :3
posted by biochemist at 9:15 AM on July 30, 2011

Are you mad, dear? Can't you see the danger we're in? (at 5:40, if the time link doesn't work).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:31 AM on July 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Are you mad, dear? Can't you see the danger we're in?

Lol, 90s references.
posted by delmoi at 9:55 AM on July 30, 2011

Obviously not ideal fir driving, but they do note that it doesn't require input. This sounds like a great for a commute on public transportation though! I know I highly enjoyed collecting wifi networks while playing TreasureWorld. It even encouraged me to take new routes or go on an evening walk to collect new "stars".
posted by maryr at 10:04 AM on July 30, 2011

What a remarkably bad idea. Even better, it's a remarkably bad idea and you have to pay a yearly subscription for it.
posted by FormlessOne at 10:24 AM on July 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

read that as "Gungan Navi"

I read it correctly as Gundam Navi but figured it was gonna be about giant blue smurfs piloting mobile suits. Which would be, well, not that much weirder than anything else in the Gundam series.
posted by kmz at 10:33 AM on July 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

This seems interesting, but driving is already a game, isn't it? A game I hate playing, but a game I've gotten pretty efficient having to do it all the time: predicting the behavior of the other drivers, developing tactics, using lane position at a stoplight to maximum advantage, knowing when you can floor it and when to play it cool, switching up tactics when cops are around, utilizing terrain familiarity and traffic patterns to maximize route efficiency....

I don't need this thing: when I drive, I already play to win.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:42 AM on July 30, 2011 [2 favorites]

Thankfully, only the Japanese have to deal with this MONUMENTALLY BAD IDEA!

YOU'RE STEERING MULTI-THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF MOTORIZED DEATH, AND YOU'RE LOOKING TO BE ENTERTAINED?

I wanna beat whomever came up with this idea with my bike lock.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:42 PM on July 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

YOU'RE STEERING MULTI-THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF MOTORIZED DEATH, AND YOU'RE LOOKING TO BE ENTERTAINED?


Just wait till the augmented reality windshields become mainstream.

Maybe I should come up with a game for those things now. Hopefully something more clever than Carmegeddon. And find an offshore asset shelter for the inevitable lawsuits from hacking those things.
posted by pwnguin at 2:05 PM on July 30, 2011

YOU'RE STEERING MULTI-THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF MOTORIZED DEATH

To be fair, some of us only steer vehicles weighing a couple of hundred kilos. And texting on a motorbike is a difficult skill---not just anyone can play Angry Birds with three fingers on the clutch lever
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:34 PM on July 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've actually bought a copy of this already, as it's a reskin of Itsumo Navi (the best car-navigation iPhone app available in Japan), which I already used, and which works on a year-at-a-time subscription basis. So it didn't really cost me any extra.

It's a turn-by-turn car navigation thing with funny voices. You may as well complain about the fact that you can replace the voices on your Garmin Serial-Number-002 with Darth Vader or Mr. T and sensationalize that.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:56 PM on July 30, 2011

Er, it didn't really cost me anything extra, because my Itsumo Navi usage period ends next week. Should have made that clear, perhaps.
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:03 PM on July 30, 2011

Didn't GTA already make people see point values on pedestrians?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:31 PM on July 30, 2011

So, I see not even in future Japan, GPS software makers have appreciated the fine art of antialiasing their fucking maps a little.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:28 PM on July 30, 2011

The maps rotate around your vehicle, so real-time antialiasing is something they decided that the iPhone's battery life is more valuable than.
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:44 PM on July 30, 2011

This app is amazing. When you get to the halfway point to your destination, it plays the music from the commercial bumpers halfway through a given episode.
posted by DoctorFedora at 12:43 AM on July 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

:D
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 3:41 AM on July 31, 2011

I wish this was in the US, too ..
posted by MaDonna Flowers at 9:17 AM on August 1, 2011