t1z4l

Konami was revealed to have developed an AI voice library for the Japanese Nintendo Switch 2 launch title Shine Post: Be Your Idol. The game's director, Akihiro Ishihara, revealed its details in interviews with Famitsu.

In an earlier interview in April 2025, Ishihara divulged how his team made a dedicated deep-learning AI library for the singing voices to accommodate all 23 playable idols in occupying any position in each featured song. The AI can also adjust the idols' singing qualities, such as pitches and vibrato, based on their in-game growth stats. Konami opted to adopt the technology since recording live singing voices in multiple qualities for all idols would take an enormous amount of time.

In a more recent interview on the game and console's launch day, Ishihara revealed how the team recorded the voices for the AI to learn from them. The voice actresses were told to sing any song they liked from the list and enjoy it like a karaoke session.

However, Ishihara also acknowledged in the interviews that the usage of AI in the game could generate some concerns and negative reactions from the public. He tried to assuage by noting that Konami had previously released the LAUGH DiAMOND AI singer voice libraries, and Shine Post also has the same technologies as the former.

Shine Post: Be Your Idol is one of the Japan-exclusive launch titles for Nintendo Switch 2, which releases worldwide on June 5, 2025.

The post Konami Made AI Voice Library for Shine Post Idol Game appeared first on Siliconera.

The Japanese April 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 Direct included several games that were exclusively revealed there, just like the previous Direct for the original Switch in March 2025. The order of the game reveals is almost the same, and the GameCube classics also have the exact same lineups. However, we have spotted three Nintendo Switch 2 games that appeared only in Japan and not in the American Direct.

The first difference we spotted in the Japanese Direct is Obakeidoro 2 appearing in the place of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4. This game will appear as the sequel to the 2019 game that had major updates in 2022 with a Castlevania crossover DLC set and a PC port. Free Style will release the new sequel in Summer 2025.

The second exclusive title is Shine Post: Be Your Idol, which was substituted by Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions in the American Direct. This is the same title Konami has been working on, and its appearance in this Direct revealed that Switch 2 is the intended console after the company moved it from mobile devices. This game will be available on the same day as the Nintendo Switch 2's launch on June 5, 2025.

The third Japan-exclusive title in the Switch 2 Direct was Ys X -Proud Nordics-, and it appeared very briefly in the rapid sizzle reel. Nihon Falcom has set Summer 2025 as the release window for the game's Japanese version. Goodnight Universe appeared on this game's slot in the American Direct.

In addition, Nintendo revealed additional details about the Switch 2 units near the end of the Japanese Direct and on the Japanese website. Most of the consoles sold regularly in Japan will be strictly intended for use domestically in the country, as people can only link Nintendo s that have the country/region entry set to Japan. This includes the regular console available at 49,980 yen (~$333.55) and the Mario Kart World bundle at 53,980 yen (~$360.25). Nintendo will instead sell the multi-language version of the console exclusively on the My Nintendo Store site at 69,980 yen (~$467) in Japan.

Nintendo Switch 2 will be available simultaneously worldwide on June 5, 2025.

The post All Japan-Exclusive Games in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct appeared first on Siliconera.

Konami has announced that it is changing the platforms for its release of Shine Post: Be Your Idol! The company originally intended to release the title as a mobile game, but it later decided to re-develop it into a "consumer game" — the Japanese term for a console game.

Be Your Idol is slated to appear as the game adaptation for Konami and Straight Edge's idol-themed media-mix project Shine Post. The franchise launched first as a novel that Kadokawa published in October 2021. The manga and anime adaptations appeared in 2022, with Studio KAI producing the latter.

In the new announcement message, Konami noted that it wants to properly depict a story where the player's decisions will determine whether the dreams of the idols they are managing will come true or not. The production team came to the conclusion that providing the game on platforms other than mobile devices would be more optimal. It will thus reconstruct the game's design from a live service-based mobile game to a gameplay system that better suits a console game.

The full Japanese announcement is also available to read via X:

Konami's decision to shift the Shine Post game from mobile to consoles will put it in contrast to Bandai Namco's The Idolm@ster franchise. The latter originated as an arcade and console game series. But even though The Idolm@ster Tours is slated to make the series' return to arcades in Spring 2025, Bandai Namco has been more focused on releasing mobile games like Gakuen Idolm@ster in mid-2024 and Shiny Colors: Song for Prism in late 2023. The latest Idolm@ster console game released was Starlit Season for PS4 and PC in 2021.

Shine Post: Be Your Idol! is now under development for consoles instead of Android and iOS mobile devices. Konami will announce the console platforms and release window for the new game at a later time.

The post Konami Shifts Shine Post Game From Mobile to Console appeared first on Siliconera.