Gatebox have attracted some attention online, with a recent article about them coming to the west… After being “Westernized.”
For those unfamiliar with our prior coverage, Gatebox creates a “holographic” virtual home assistant akin to Alexa, interacting with lights, TV, Roombas, and more, all by voice command and texts. It usually projects the image of a female anime character, complete with voice acting [1, 2, 3, 4]. It will even recognize their user’s face.
Engadget reported (and Tweeted) Keyshare Innovation Group have partnered with New Zealand (the company behind Gatebox) to “essentially rebuild Gatebox’s AI assistant from the ground up.” While you may suspect at best the device would need subtitles or an English dub, the changes are far more drastic.
In addition to the projection and mirror giving the illusion of a 3D image now being a flat tablet screen inside half a tube, (though still keeping the motion sensors and cameras), the avatars are now realistic human men and women.
In Engadget’s accompanying video from CES 2020 (and Tweet), Chris Velazco (Engadget’s Senior Editor and author of the article) explains the reason for the change is to make it more “palatable” to western customers.
“It’s a holographic anime girl who serves as some sort of personal companion. You can ask her questions, you can have conversations with her, it does sort of feel like more of an emotional kind of virtual assistant than a practical one. But, there she is.
[…] What’s really interesting is that an American company has actually decided, you know what, let’s take this idea and make it palatable to the Western world, because millennials love anime, but not everyone is gonna shell out $1,500 for a girl in a tube that always speaks Japanese.
Now as far as we’ve been able to gather, an American company in conjunction with New Zealand developers worked on Hikari here [the 3D model in the Gatebox], and basically stripped out all the innate cultural Japanese-ness, and replaced it with a system that feels more palatable to Western customers.”
Velazco further explains that the westernized device may soon be heading to an unnamed cruise-line to act as a 24/7 concierges within “the next couple of months.” He also proposes it could be used in gyms to check people in and help with exercise routines.
Valazco himself even admits the device “doesn’t look as good.” It does beg the question why even keep the tube-like design if you only want the cameras and facial recognition? Engadget reports the device is already a little smaller, so there seems to be some flexibility in how the device can be shaped- especially if it only uses a flat screen.
Keeping the device as-is, and using the likeness of celebrities (or even characters from western cartoons and video games) would seem to be a no-brainier. Actor Samuel L. Jackson has already lent his voice to Alexa– combining that with a stylized 3D model could be within reason.
Anime fans on Twitter have had scathing reactions to the news [1, 2]. Some are frustrated that the device is being “ruined” and sold to another audience, rather than becoming more available to them. Others are concerned that a company’s first thought when purchasing technology from another country, would be to remove anything from that culture.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below!
Image: Engadget, Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (via PNG Guru)
Ali Akhun
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmjust TRANSLATE IT MOTHERFUCKER i’m not gonna shell out $1,500 for a fallout looking girl, no thanks
Stan Satanson
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmIT JUST NEEDED SUBTITLES
B Unit
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmYeah apparently westerners hate escapism, so here is some naggy ass looking Karen so you can be annoyed wherever you are.
Moravuscz
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmWell I guess it’s a good time to import it from Japan as the import tax is now nonexistent between EU and JP 😀
Couldn’t they have just, I dunno, make both versions? A translated weeb version as well as a more normiefied version? Perhaps even in one product, just give us the choice… Don’t just “take the concept, but throw everything out the window and redo it as we like it”
ExplodingPrinny
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmHow to ruin a product in one easy step, dood.
Shodan
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pm“not everyone is gonna shell out $1,500 for a girl in a tube that always speaks Japanese.”
And even less people will shell out that much money for a digital Anita Sarkeesian in a bottle.
nine_ball
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmWhat the fuck is even the point anymore? You wouldn’t even need to hire new voice actors if it displayed subs or if you just got the same seiyuu for an English dub. Believe me, I WANT the bad Engrish.
JustPassBy
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmThe female one looks like anita….
Bruh.
Jorge Tavani
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmFucking muricunts
Mr.SkilZ
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmThe only device weebs are willing to settle on to let the glow in the darks spy on us and they managed to fuck that up too.
Damn. Way to drop the ball.
“Westernized” A.K.A corporatized and devoid of any semblance of soul or joy.
Cwbintn
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pm>Make product catering to and marketed to weaboos
>Remove the feature that makes the product sell.
A genius plan.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d72990f396a097389ee7def7411c074616112661317652a42d0d6ac011b09e9.jpg
Ebicentre
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmIf you call yourself a weeb and buy this unironically, guess who’s getting thrown off a cliff.
Silfr Fil Godreon
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pm… Then what the fuck is the point? When single men bought this in Japan, they wanted a warm, soothing presence combined with eye candy to come back to, not a reminder of the harpies they probably endure on a daily basis.
Razu Draws
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmAnother example of companies “changing products for the sake of its consumers”.
I hate it when those rich ass bastards think that they know what we want and should buy.
TNinja
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmGood lord, just make your own product if you’re not even gonna use the actual tech.
Musou Tensei the Unchangeable
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmJapan: Here is a cute anime girl holograph.
The West: Here is a tablet in a tube running an app with ugly characters.
The typical gaijin bullshit, I hope they go broke.
Cats739
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pm“Westerners are interested in a product we’ve been heavily advertising with anime themes? Let’s release it over there and remove everything that made it interesting.”
Corporate Japan doesn’t understand the West.
zedocax
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pm“not everyone is gonna shell out $1,500 for a girl in a tube that always speaks Japanese.”
first of all weebs totally would
second of all do they really think people would shell out money for a fucking sims character?
Hama
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmThey ruined it
Jeremy Kuntzman
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmSo they take a product o would actually buy if it was the Japanese version with English and make it something I would never buy. I want the anime girls, the whole reason for this product is to escape reality. Not have a Karen that has no appeal.
McFucksauce
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmi want my waifu back im not paying 1500 bucks for some middle aged bald cunt or some anita sarkeesian looking ass motherfucker
Mr0303
January 16, 2020 at 3:06 pmSo for their telescreen spying device they decided to replace a cutesy girl giving you positive vibes and cheering you on with some dude bro and Ms “I want to see the manager”. I guess the Japanese have a very bleak view of the West and they are not entirely wrong.
A simple solution is to leave the option there for the original, but we know that’s not how these “localisations” work.