Tecmo's unquestionably in a bubbling tub of hot water the past couple of months, but could their luck be changing? Square Enix has revealed earlier that they have a proposal for a friendly takeover on the beleaguered developer.

Another case of a spontaneously combusting iPod Nano was recently sighted when The Consumerist reader Dale reported having his first generation iPod Nano suddenly "explode open and start shooting sparks and spewing smoke" while charging it on his PC's USB port. More details regarding this can be found in our full article after the jump.

The Japanese government has revealed that its trade and economy ministry will be conducting an investigation involving Apple's iPod Nano players.

This was prompted when one unit reportedly sparked during charging. Officials believe that the problem lies in the player's battery. More on this after the jump.

Over the years, quite a number of Resident Evil-related merchandise have been released by Capcom. One of these was a 2GB iPod Nano that had an engraved S.T.A.R.S. logo on the back. Check out the image to the right for a look at it.

This particular item is perhaps one of the rarest of the Resident Evil swag, as fans could only get one by using a JCB card in Japan and spending more than 100,000 yen (US$ 822) within three months. As if that wasn't enough, only twenty of these were made so those eligible were entered into a drawing to decide who got one.

If you're a die-hard Resident Evil fan who never managed to get one of these iPods, the good news is that one is being sold on eBay for US$ 299. Compared to what one had to go through to get one of these originally, this is a pretty good deal for hardcore RE fans, who can then personalize it further by changing its background image.

If you're thinking that headbands have gone the way of the dinosaur, think again. A Japanese company called Thanko has just announced the VONIA sports headband, which actually acts as a set of headphones without requiring you to shove anything in or on you ears.

How? Bone conduction. The VONIA headband uses it to send sound directly to your brain by stimulating your eardrums, leaving you free to hear any ambient sound that could alert you to, say, an oncoming truck that would have turned you into a bloody mess. Perfect for people who love listening to music while running or biking.

The VONIA headband has a front pocket designed to hold an iPod shuffle or any other small mp3 player. The player connects to wiring hidden inside the headband itself. The speaker units are also waterproof, so if you have a waterproof player you can still use it while you're doing a few laps in the pool.

There's no word yet on if the VONIA headband will be coming to the U.S., but if you have a friend in Japan, you can get them to buy one for US$ 85 when it goes on sale later this month.

We know that there's a lot of you who are big fans of Lumines, be it Lumines 2 on the PSP or Lumines Live on X360 via the Xbox Live Arcade. Actually, so many things have been said already about these two versions. Being on different platforms, not to mention from opposing companies, things such as those can't be avoided.

At any rate, we have something today that will make both sides happy. If you are a Lumines fan, it is highly probable that you are familiar with the in-game hit song Heavenly Star. Developer Q Entertainment excitedly announced today that the song is available for download both in U.S. and Japan via iTunes. According to the company's Chief Creative Officer, Tetsuya Mizuguchi:

We are delighted to introduce our first self-produced song Heavenly Star on iTunes. It is an important element in Q Entertainment's global entertainment and distribution strategy. As the world's most popular digital download store, iTunes is a key platform for serving our existing audience as well as introducing our work to others around the world.

Heavenly Star is currently being employed as the background music for the PSP version. On the other hand, it will be introduced to Live early this coming January as the Heavenly Star Pack. The said track was performed by the band Genki Rockets and was produced by Mizuguchi himself.

If there's a better way to do things, the Japanese seem to always find them. This time, they came up with an emergency battery for the iPod and the regular Japanese mobile phone. With digital broadcast such as 1Seg keeping everyone glued to their mobile gadgets, no wonder the battery runs out before the last iTunes download is played. And we haven't even mentioned Bluetooth and Wi-fi squeezing out the juices of your lithium pack!

Princeton Japan found a heroic solution to this problem with the PMB-BP18. Weighing just 75 grams, the external battery can be attached via the USB port so you can recharge your iPod and phone. It also comes with its own viewer dock that you can adjust for better viewing angle. PMB-BP18 sells in Japan at ¥ j4,980 (around US$ 42).

The iPod Nano has recently been the subject of PC Watch Japan's scrutiny, as they decided to  open one up to see the technology running behind it. The result of the inquest? Just as people have surmised, the Nano's flash memory of choice is manufactured by Samsung and its 4GB version actually has two 2GB drives installed in them, while the 2GB version only has one. A cost-saving measure perhaps? Afterall, would it be cheaper to just install two 2GB drives as compared to using single 4GB units?

However, as the source was in Japanese, it can't really be determined at this time if you can use the Nano's memory cards with other products, or if is even hackable. So, here's a picture of the dissected iPod Nano instead for the perusal of those who maybe able to unlock the secrets of this electronic guinea pig.

Oh yes, folks! It's another iSomething! Just perfect to match your iThis and your iThat!

Cain Laboratory Japan is set to release the i2 sound system for your trusty iPod. And what sets it appart from the bajillions of iPod sound systems out there? See that little UFO-looking blue dude on top? That's a vacuum tube amplifier, just like the iBlueTube! This amplifier has a sub-woofer and can accomodate two satellite speakers, making it a 2.1 channel system. But what I really like about the i2 is the fact that they incorporated an iPod wheel on the face and on the remote control.

The i2 will be sold for 30,000 Yen ($260) in Japan by the end of this month. The amplifier measures 160?25?65mm and the satellite speakers are 80?5?60mm. The whole set weighs in at 4.5kg.

Japanese company Logitec (different from Logitech) will release its LBD-A2FU2/WM - the first Blu-ray disc burner for Apple computers - this month. The 2x BD drive can write to the 25GB BD-R, the 50GB BD-RE, DVD-RAM, DVD±R/RW, dual-layer DVD±R and CD-R/RW discs. It also comes with Roxio's Mac OS X application Toast 7 Titanium. The Blu-ray drive connects to both USB 2.0 and Firewire and will retail for $1,148. Apple People elsewhere will have to wait as no shipping date outside Japan has been announced.