Hello, this is Aaron at Hatena in Kyoto with another edition of the weekly news.
Today there is a festival in Japan called Setsubun, which marks the coming of spring. On Setsubun people wear demon masks and throw soybeans to ward off evil spirits. You can see some Setsubun inspired Flipnotes in our selections from Japan this week.
In other news, for the next two weeks we are offering 20% extra color stars for purchases made with Rixty at Hatena.com. Keep reading to find out more about this great new campaign.
We also have a fun new topic this week that offers many creative possibilities. Get out your stylus, tap on Flipnote Studio and get started making some new Flipnotes!
Along with the Flipnotes that we have selected in the news this week, you can also see some more of our favorites in the 'Hatena Recommends' channel at the URL below:
Thanks for checking out the news blog, from all of us at Hatena.
Buy Hatena Color Stars with Rixty: 20% Bonus Campaign!
We are pleased to expand our payment options by adding Rixty, the leading cash-based payment platform for games and digital content.
Got cash or coins? Buy Hatena Color Stars using Rixty!
From today until February 15, 2012 you will get 20% extra Hatena Color Stars if you make a purchase on Hatena.com using Rixty. For more information please click on the link below:
Flipnote of the Week
★ Duck for cover in this action-packed animation by Otogen (id:otogen) from Japan.
The best of the last week's topic: 'Masks'
There were over 600 Flipnotes posted about last week's topic, and here are some of our favorites from around the world.
You can see all of the Flipnotes posted about last week's topic by clicking on the link below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
'Mask' Flipnotes from the Americas region
★ Check out the action in this cool Flipnote by GIGANTOR (id:Fuddy-Duddy).
★ Laugh out loud with this animation by ¡EnCiSo! (id:Enciso).
★ We liked the sound effects of this funny Flipnote by △MASABEAR△ (id:ButterBear).
★ Watch this Flipnote by Hannah (id:lymegirl97) and see vivid expressions follow one another.
★ Is it a mask? We do not know, but this Flipnote by cosmasque (id:cosmasque) does look really cute.
★ We wonder what is beneath all the masks in this Flipnote by T.O.Y (id:Trippel-M).
'Mask' Flipnotes from the Europe and Oceania region
★ You will be taking the stairs after watching this Flipnote by geezer (id:geezerdk).
★ We enjoyed this neat combination of pictures and drawings by Barry (id:BarryX).
★ Rose_girl (id:RedroseGirl) made fun out of the super-hero in her Flipnote.
★ Enjoy watching this painful but hilarious situation by josecandel (id:goomer).
★ Funny Sun (id:FunnySun) made this great Flipnote with the Nintendo DSi Camera application.
★ We liked the smooth changes in this liquid-like animation by GRIBOUILLE (id:GRIBOUILLE).
'Mask' Flipnotes from Japan
★ A demon tries to disguise himself so nobody will throw beans at him, by Johnny3 (id:a3735963).
★ We hope there will be a sequel to this amazing Flipnote by Foomin (id:wrbyno10).
★ Is the princess in this Flipnote by Pekira (id:pekira9074) really the princess she appears to be?
★ In this animation by Hanta-san (id:yppah) aliens are visiting earth in search of curry and rice.
★ This Flipnote by Itokichikun (id:wakasuga) made us smile!
★ We really enjoyed this animation about shopping for a mask by Izumi (id:izumi-v).
New Creator's Room Themes
The designers at Flipnote Hatena have created two great new Creator's Room themes. For more information please visit the Color Star Exchange by tapping on 'Get new themes!' on Flipnote Hatena for Nintendo DSi.
★ This cute theme features some smiling pancakes. (10 color stars)
★This theme features a dragon soaring through the sky. (10 color stars)
This week's topic: 'Coins'
Coins are something that almost everyone has in their pocket. This week we would like you to create animations that somehow include coins. Create stories about flipping coins to make decisions, chasing coins that you have dropped, searching for coins with metal detectors, or animate some coins with the Nintendo DSi Camera application. We welcome any kind of Flipnote for the weekly topic as long as it features some coins.
Please submit your weekly topic Flipnotes by midnight on February 9, 2012 (Thursday) US Pacific Time, and we will present some of our favorites on February 10, 2012 (Friday).
You can see all of the Flipnotes currently posted about this week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
Frog Sightings
If you are interested in having your frog photo or illustration featured in the 'Weekly Frog Sighting' section of the blog please post them on Hatena Haiku and we might feature it here.
Please submit only original photos/illustrations that you have created yourself.
★ id:SarhA made this cool drawing of the Flipnote Frog sitting on a lilypad.
Feedback
What did you think about the weekly news this week? Let us know by telling us your feedback in the box below.
You can read comments posted by Nintendo DSi users by viewing the Flipnote below:
