Tech & Science
John Hofilena on May 9 2013
PlayStation Vita – officially abbreviated as
PS Vita – is electronics giant Sony’s official successor to the PlayStation Portable handheld gaming platform, but it might not receive the acclaim and success that its predecessors had. While the touchscreen handheld gaming console is selling better these days, that doesn’t equate to its owners being overjoyed by the mobile
video game device either.
In a bid to make its newest game console more profitable, Japanese console manufacturers
Nintendo Co. is trying to modify its newest console iteration, the Wii U – which has a handheld element and a touchscreen – so that users can play their most-loved smartphone apps on the console. The globally-renowned gaming giants are now aiming to allow customers to use smartphone applications on their new console as the company
searches for a way to increase profitability.
After a 43 billion yen loss last year,
Nintendo Co. should be happy to post an annual profit of 7.1 billion yen (US$72 million) as the fiscal year ended on March 31. The Kyoto-based game console and software manufacturer was boosted by the weakening yen, creating an environment ideal for exporters like Nintendo. Still the profit was slightly less than what analysts have projected for the game company.
While
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been the leading video game console in the US, their sales in Japan have been so low that some stores have stopped selling the console and its games. As a push to get more Japanese interested in the Xbox (and become loyal to the brand as well), they are launching the 1 Million Hours campaign.
Looking to get a slice of the creativity and potential of the Japanese mobile gaming industry, San Francisco-based online game company Kabam is putting out major money to lure Japan’s game developers westward. The free-to-play operators have put up US$50 million to help Japan’s smaller game developers make it big in the North American and European mobile markets.
Business
Adam Westlake on Mar 25 2013
Japan's largest cell phone carrier,
NTT Docomo, has announced that it will be offering a localized version of its "d game" service, a marketplace where users can purchase games for their mobile devices, in
China, beginning this Tuesday, March 26th. The service is being brought to Japan's Asian neighbor through a deal with China Mobile Communications Corporation, the country's largest mobile operator, and it will be the first time 'd game' mobile content is offered outside of its home country, albeit still under the Docomo brand name.
A
Nintendo Co. spokesman has revealed that a federal jury in New York ordered the Japanese video game giant to pay $30.2 million to an employee of rival
Sony Corp. in a lawsuit over patent infringement of 3-D technology. Seijiro Tomita, who worked for Sony for almost 30 years, filed the lawsuit in 2011, the same year that Nintendo launched its latest handheld game system, the 3DS.
Japanese electronics maker and gaming giant
Sony saw its shares slide today following its big announcement in New York of
its next generation PlayStation 4 console. Investors do not seem impressed, as Sony ended today down by 1.77% at 1,331 yen ($14.26) on Tokyo's Nikkei index. Ratings agency Fitch warned the new gadget will probably not make any difference in turning the firm's fortunes around.
Sony has just concluded its event in New York that saw the official announcement of its next video game console, the
PlayStation 4. The roughly two-hour presentation saw a fair amount of the technology talked about, the significant connection features of the system, and a large number of new games demoed. While Sony confirmed that the PS4 would be released before the end of 2013, the biggest disappointment was that no price was given, and other than the controller, no hardware was shown.
Business
Ida Torres on Feb 19 2013
Japanese mobile games outfit
GREE and
Yahoo Japan signed a wide-ranging deal in November 2012, and today the two companies have announced that they will be opening a joint-venture focused on developing social games for smartphones next month. The new entity will be tentatively named “GxYz” and will open business on March 15.
