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An anime classic returns, Thor gets some reviews, WalMart's ecosystem evolves, and fan-funding a video game?  Let's get to the geek news!

Geek Law:
Winklevoss twins ask for a new hearing in the Facebook case. We're sort of getting used to Facebook being involved in legal issues aren't we?

Anime and Manga:
Rurouni Kenshin is getting a new anime Another beloved property that should go over well on sheer name recognition (and my guess is this fits my theory on Backlog). Though another note – there's a constantly rumored live film, which might be more believable in an age of Live Death Note . . .

Sounds like the re-release of Sailor Moon is a lot more faithful than other interpretations. Sounds like it's aimed at established fans.

Comics:
An early reaction to the unfinished 'Thor' film gives some insights (no spoilers). Another links to a review with spoilers. Presented for your perusal. It sounds all reasonably positive to positive.

Social Media:
Wal-Mart acquires social media miner Kosmix, which is probably part of their ever-growing pseudo-Ecosystem. Really, watch Wal-Mart, they're not getting enough attention in my opinion.

Video Games:
PopCap keeps talking as that IPO looms. Sounds to me like they want to do this right and do it BIG. I'm moderately positive on their future, and am glad they're working hard on doing this right – and big. Worth sending a resume too – and worth seeing how people react.

You don't hear about it much, but the Battlestar Galactica MMO has signed up a million users. Maybe they're going long tail?

A model to emulate? Zero Point raises $125,000 via fan funding for a AAA title. Let's see how they do (and maybe throw them some money). In an age of Kickstarter and more this may be a viable – and interesting – model.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you think Zero Point's model is viable?

– Steven Savage

No Tokyopop publishing? New Nintendo Console? Spider-man musical retooling? A lot of changes in our geeky news . . .

Culture:
Seth Godin makes a fascinating argument on transparency that goes beyond some of the usual arguments for it.

Education:
Another Godin-thought: is expensive education an exercise in branding?

Anime and Animation:
BIG NEWS: Tokyopop is closing it's North American publishing operations end of May. Sounds like a giant combo of events led to this (and ironically before the movie adaption of "Priest" comes out). Not that this is publishing only, but it remains to be seen just what Tokyopop will do (and of course with all those Kodansha licenses lapsing we can guess what's going to happen there). Short story – Send No Resume and Watch This Space.

Comics:
The Spider-Man musical will be retooled so apparently lots of changes.

Social Media:
Woah. Flipboard gets a $50 million investment and partners with Oprah. I like their idea, and this is a good deal. This could not only empower them (and lead to opportunities) but also pushes their interesting browsing metaphor into the mainstream. Follow them both for personal use and to see what they try.

Technology:
Looks like T. Rowe Price is putting their money where the social tech is. Not much more details beyond investments in a mix of companies – like Facebook, Ning, Zynga, and more. Some serious cash sloshing around here – which might be a sign of places that could say, hire or acquire . . .

Television:
Adaption alert: HBO may be adapting Neil Gaiman's "American Gods". Significant? Well their "Game of Thrones" is getting rave reviews, the movie industry is a bit moribund and limited, so I can see HBO positioning themselves as the Faithful Adaption Service – doing things in TV format that wouldn't fly anywhere else. Watch this space, because there's plenty of properties that'd fit a miniseries/cable format well (and others who might jump on the bandwagon).

Video:
VideoSurf of San Mateo got a $16 million dollar investment and it sounds like they want to keep hiring. They do video search indexing. May not sound exciting – unless you're into video tech and algorithms – but it could be fun.

Video Games:
Playdom is having some games accessible outside of Facebook. Sounds like they don't want all their eggs in one basket and want to be careful with currency transaction limits.

Best Buy is setting up a kind of internal video game store/setup. Talking on GameStop or establishing a foundation – or something else?

Nintendo is supposedly releasing a new, powerful, HD console. That's about it.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think Nintendo is going to do with their new console?

– Steven Savage