The news program runs on software that collects news from real-life news (politics, the economy, sports and, yes, the anime industry). A Cellius voice synthesis engine is used to have Misato read said news in real time on this Nerv News 24 television program.

It's even possible to customize the show's backdrop to the secret Evangelion Nerv headquarters, Misato's dinning room and whatnot. It's also possible to customize her hair and her clothing.

The Misato Katsuragi News Project goes live in Japan on June 6.

ヱヴァンゲリヲン：葛城ミサトがキャスターに　ＰＳ３でリアルタイムのニュース番組配信 [Mainichi via ANN]

The announcement reads, "The shape of a new report. Misato Katsuragi info plan. News will change with the PS3..."

There's a Namco Bandai Games logo on the same page — Namco Bandai is releasing an action adventure Evangelion game for the PSP this summer. One would assume that if there was an Evaneglion game, Namco Bandai would be handling that as well.

"Cellius, Inc." also appears as a copyright. Well, of course it does!

Back in 2007, Sony and Namco Bandai announced a joint venture to develop new content for the Cell chip including games for the PS3 and content for mobile phones and personal computers. The two companies invested about US$821,000 to form Cellius, an outfit headed up by Ken Kutaragi, the father of the PlayStation. Here's how the company was divvied up: 51 percent owned by Namco Bandai and 49 percent by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Previously, the fruits of Cellius and Namco Bandai produced a Gundam video on-demand channel of all things.

Apparently, one of the first "contents" to come from the collective brain of Cellius is a video on demand-like service, one that currently specializes in delivering Gundam related content. It's tentatively and hilariously named the "Gundam Viewchives."

And it was on display earlier this week.

According to a report from IGN contributor Anoop Gantayat, the Gundam Viewchives lets hardcore Gundam anime fans download and view individual scenes, not entire episodes. Scenes, characters and events shown in those downloaded scenes can be cross-referenced and linked to, allowing for easy Gundam browsing.

It sounds like a Gundam Wikipedia on your PlayStation 3.

As Gantayat theorizes, the Viewchives service likely won't just be targeted at Gundam fans, as it appears the service can apply data points and encyclopedic knowledge to content beyond anime. What at first appears to be an ill-conceived curiosity could wind up being something interesting.

Bandai shows Gundam Video on Demand service for PS3 [Andria Sang - thanks, Colin!]

But when I asked them to double check they became a bit unclear and said they would look into it. This morning Nick Sharples, director of their PR team, was kind enough to send along some more details about the newly formed Cell-centered game developer.

It appears that Namco Bandai's Isao Nakamura, best known for creating the Ridge Racer franchise, will actually be the director of the company while the other board members will be "absentee directors" who will support Nakamura's role.

A bit more details:

The new company, combining development technologies and flexible way of thinking which both SCEI and NBGI have, will develop new contents business in order to create interactive and "surprising" contents.

Isao Nakamura is known for creating the Ridge Racer franchise but the new content to be created by CELLIUS is not limited to racing genre only. CELLIUS office will be located in Nakameguro, separately from SCEI or Namco Bandai offices and will initially start with around 30 people.

By saying that the company is "not limited" to the racing genre, they certainly imply that will be one of the things they will be doing. I'll leave it to you to finish this post with some Kaz-speak.

Sony and Bandai Namco have announced a joint venture to develop new content for the Cell chip including games for the PS3 and content for mobile phones and personal computers, Bloomberg reports.

The two companies are investing about $821,000 to form Cellius, a company that will be headed up by Ken Kutaragi, the father of the Playstation. The company will be formed on March 6 and will 51 percent owned by Bandi Namco and 49 percent by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Bandai Namco's president and another exec, as well as a second senior Sony exec will also on the newly formed company's board.

The news comes months after Kutaragi was promoted out of daily operations of Playstation 3 decisions. It will be interesting to see what sort of insight Kutaragi brings to the game development side of things.

Hit the jump for the full Bloomberg story. Brian Crecente

Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of game consoles, said its PlayStation unit will develop games with Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. to help take share from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co.

Namco Bandai will own 51 percent of the venture, named Cellius Inc., with Sony holding the rest, Sony said in a faxed release today. The venture will begin operations on March 6.

Cellius will use Sony's Cell chip, which powers PlayStation 3, to create games for the console and content for mobile phones and personal computers, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said today. He would not give earnings forecasts or other details.

The alliance may help Sony recoup the 200 billion yen ($1.65 billion) it spent developing the Cell with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp. Sony is expecting the chip, which makes the PS3 about 35 times faster than the PS2, to attract gamers with sharper graphics and more complex play.

The Cell chip is also part of Sony's strategy to beat Microsoft and Apple Computer Inc. in controlling the digital home, a future network linking televisions, music players, game consoles and other appliances to the Internet.

Sony, Namco Bandai Ally to Jointly Make Games for PlayStation 3 [Bloomberg]