When Sony and Namco Bandai entered into the Cellius joint venture in early 2007, the companies didn't say they'd just be working on games. No, Cellius would produce "interactive and 'surprising' contents." They weren't lying.
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!]