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Microsoft's Bing Search Engine Enlists Japanese Voices
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Japanese version of Microsoft's Bing search engine service has enlisted voice actresses to help with a new campaign. If enough people use the search engine on the linked page by the campaign's deadline, January 18 at 6:00 p.m. Japan Time, then Microsoft will offer digital present items in the form of theme files with wallpapers and voice samples. Microsoft started the campaign on December 18. A progress bar, which can also be found on the linked page, is currently at 25 percent.
Microsoft has enlisted Eriko Nakamura (Idolmaster) as Nanae, Ai Matayoshi (Yozakura Quartet's Rin) as Nana, Juri Takita (Idolmaster, Nodame Cantabile) as Nanako, Asami Imai (Needless' Solva, Nyan Koi!'s ending theme song) as Nanami, and Saki Fujita (Vocaloid's Hatsune Miku) as Nanao to say a catch phrase each time someone uses the search engine in the page above. (The "Nana-" or "7" in each character's name is a worldplay on the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.) The illustrator Shū designed the characters.
Even before the digital presents are offered, the website also links to voice sample files such as "Thank you for your patronage, master" that can be installed to play when a user shuts down an operating system, logs onto an account, or experiences a system error.
[Via Japanator]
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