The definition of the word 
techcitement really came to life for me this weekend while attending Anime Expo in Los Angeles. One of the booths, Nico Nico, hosted a live web broadcast. That in itself wasn’t so interesting. What was different was as the show went on, messages sent in from viewers around the world would stream across the screen and the interviewers would react and interact with the comments in real-time.
This is not exactly new technology – Nico Nico has been around in Japan for a few years and is just making its open beta in the United States now. Anime Expo was my first real exposure to the product and I am very impressed. It is kind of funny, because at first glance, Nico Nico almost seems bland. I wanted to ignore the scrolling text. Compared to the pretty girl in the background, it is kind of ugly and the words often seem random. The concept of marrying short messaging to live video in real-time is not an unmined concept either. At big concerts and sporting events, texts and tweets from the show are often displayed on the big screen. The way Nico Nico has married integration with interaction potentially takes things to a new level, allowing content providers to directly interact with their audience immediately, as they are creating content.
Watch the interview with Nico Nico CEO James Spahn, with some footage of Nico Nico at work spliced in. Or go check them out for yourself.
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[…] several tech-related companies in attendance that I was able to interview. Earlier, I posted the interview I had with Nico Nico. Today, you get to find out more about the game publisher Kill3rCombo and their game Elsword. […]