No matter who you are, where you're from, what you did...we're still under the same skies. Stars, nebulae, galaxies, eclipses, and auroras... These are all above our heads, and don't you just sometimes wished you knew more about them?

Homestar 21st Century Star Navigator is now available in Lik-Sang for US$ 34.90. Yes, it's still the Japanese version, but come. friccin'. on. people! These are stars we're looking at. Who needs any translation for that? Images speak a thousand words.

Yes, you might not understand the voice-overs, and all the text in the menu, therefore defeating the whole purpose of calling it a "galactic tour"... But still. Some of you might be hardcore about the heavens above so much so that you can't wait for the U.S. version (no clue yet if and when it's going to be released).

If you're willing to purchase the game, this is as good as it gets.

Oh!, and yeah. If you recognized the reference (read the first line again) to a Backstreet Boys song, snaps for you!

Gizoogle my nizzle-dizzle transizzle-ation. Before anything else, we're going to apologize in advance if this article would have any lapses in info. We're braving the Milky Way to give you more news about Homestar 21st Century Navigator from Google's English-generated translation of a Japanese article. Here's a sample, and please note that the game's title is translated as "touring the Sky (homestar)":

Strictly speaking, "touring the Sky (homestar)," A game is not for any of the players do not understand the astronomical term "touring the Sky" is more like a lively astronomy textbooks. On the PSP will be able to operate through a simple understanding of all the constellations, build more than 300 objects in the CD, you are now the location of the past and future changes, and many stories of the special celestial phenomenon.

Err... Oh-kaaaaaay... Anyways, whether you understood that or not, Homestar is going to be one heck of a tour. Although it's a "game", it's going to make your little handheld into a planetarium through GPS connectivity and live updates from the night sky. We're leaving you now with more Google English, which reads more like a haiku than anything else (in short, just look at 'em screenshots!):

"Going to see a plan? This is the birth of eight million ～ 500 years ago, when the starry sky image! You can set what you want to see freedom in the past and the future."

Sony stops at nothing when it comes to marketing gimmicks. We are already aware of the GPS and camera capability that will come soon on PSP -- something we think that Sony does only to make the PSP more appealing even to non-gamers. Consider, for example, the golf players. They won't normally buy a PSP just so they can play Hot Shots Golf, but the PSP's ability to actually provide all the golf data that they need in a real Japanese golf course may be indispensable to them. The PSP then turns into a personal golf assistant.

   

 
In Homestar: 21st Century Navigator, the GPS lets you get night sky data. Again, this function may appeal to stargazers and astronomy hobbyists and not just to players. But about the most gaming use we can find from the GPS system can be found in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. The GPS function allows you to take advantage of Wi-Fi hotspots to earn powered-up bonus characters that you can use in the Comrade system. Then again, Konami has mentioned that the GPS can be useful in other fields as well, such as education and services.

   

 

These "other" uses will more likely help those who are out on the road since the automatic route guidance will tell you how to get to a location which you can use both in the car, and when walking on foot. Moreover, anyone can take advantage of the console's wide screen that allows you to view maps in multiple ways.

The GPS is one thing. The PSP is another. Put these two together and you got something original, and it's a laudable effort from Sony. But the question is: will it sell?

We reported about the crazy new PSP title called Homestar: 21st Century Navigator a few days ago, and suffice to say, more than enough people just can't imagine how a Planetarium might look on the PSP. Well, the newest Famitsu issue has a feature of the "game" so you can see how it works in practice.

For me, these screens look rather dull, but you never know, when a popular Japanese mag runs a two-page preview on it, it must be something... still, because of the sheer obscurity of this title, chances of a release outside Japan are very low. Makes me wonder about all the other interesting PSP software the Japanese regularily get that we may never hear of...

 

Here's another of these crazy Japanese "games", which will probably never see the light of the day in the US or Europe, but are nonetheless fun to look at. Today, our visitor is called Homestar: 21st Century Navigator. Supervised by famed planetarium creator Takayuki Ohira (who created the legendary Mega Star series of planetariums), Homestar lets you view five million stars on the go. You can view these with different perspectives and zoom in to a single planet, and the software also features filters to focus on stars of a certain brightness order. Natural phenomenon like eclipses, nebulae, and aurora effects are also included. And if you want to know a bit more about the things you're looking at, Homestar provides you with an extensive library of background information, including descriptions of every stellar body, history of constellations, and more.

But it's not all just education: In the "Fantasy Theater mode", you get to view the most famous planets and stars in a guided tour encompassing 15 chapters, while voiced narration tells you about the mysteries of space. Cheesy New Age music included. Actually, we don't know about the last bit, but it'd be cool.

Homestar: 21st Century Navigator will be released in Japan on October 19, for a budget price of 3,280 yen (US$ 28). The publisher is Sega, and perhaps there's a slim chance that Western audiences might get to see the game eventually, too. We'll keep you posted.