http://www.robo-one.com/sp/space.html

"If one Japanese company gets it's way, remote controlled robots will participate in combative sports matches in low Earth orbit as early as a targeted date of October 10, 2010 (10/10/10). "Robo-One Uchuu Taikai" (English title: "ROBO-ONE in the Space") is an event being promoted by the ROBO-ONE Committee who already regularly hosts robot duels under the constraints of 1G of gravity in Tokyo. The projected launch / payload costs are said to approach 200 million Yen. The plan calls for a 125,000-cubic centimeter satellite loaded with 4 robots to go into a 400-600km high polar orbit. Once deployed the robots will fight while tied to a 5 meter tether connected to the satellite. A camera attached to the satellite will broadcast the battle to earth and allow the earth-bound pilots to control their actions via remote control. The satellite's orbit will carry it over Japan four times a day, each fighting match will run around 10 minutes. According to the rules, the robots can propel themselves with gas jets, a robot is considered thrown out of the ring (similar to sumo) when it's tether is fully taut. The company plans to use a combination of foreign and domestic Japanese rockets to launch to get there. ROBO-ONE has already designed high quality robots for toy and anime production companies. Indeed it's an expressed goal of the committee to specifically reproduce space battles similar to those seen in Japanese animation. Official Website: http://www.robo-one.com".

Now this is an interesting stuff. Any takers? I do wonder how much it will cost to play this "game"

Billions, probably. Space programs are, quite possibly, the biggest budget sponge for any government or corporation that has one. After military spending, of course.

Mappy wrote:Billions, probably. Space programs are, quite possibly, the biggest budget sponge for any government or corporation that has one. After military spending, of course.

They are also good at kick-starting a lagging economy. The money has to go somewhere.

Is it me, or does Planet ES seem like it's coming even closer to being true?

Certainly the corporate culture mentality of the show is becoming a reality.