This keen machine — resembling one of the rusty behemoths dispensing cologne in the men's restrooms of cheap pubs — actually dispenses Pokemon on reusable SmartMedia cards for viewing on your DS or GBA.

At 300 Yen (or about two and a half bucks) for an episode of Pokemon, this is most certainly the direction the PSP's UMDs should have taken. Walk into a Blockbuster, insert your card, pump a few Sacajaweas into the slot, rotate the knob and walk away with Spiderman 2. Watch it a few times, return to the store, erase it, rinse, repeat. The pricing paradoxes of portable media formats like UMD make them prime candidates for microtransactions, or rentals, if you prefer.

But somehow I doubt neither Sony nor Hollywood would deign to sell a UMD movie for less than 20 bucks, even if it meant saving a completely underwhelming format like UMD. Florian Eckhardt

Pokemon and other anime stars on your Nintendo DS [New Launches]