Mereja

Author: Zach Walton

  • Increase Employee Productivity With A BYOD Policy

    For many years, businesses supplied their employees with a phone to keep personal and work information separate. With the advent of more sophisticated smartphones, these policies are all but obsolete. Some employers may stick with the old policy of mandating what phone the employee must use, but new research has found that this may not be the smartest move.

    In a new research survey from CIO Insight, the firm found employers that have a BYOD, or “Bring your own device,” policy see massive gains in productivity among employees, despite the inherent risks. That productivity will come at a price, however, as companies will need to start investing in mobile integration policies.

    Let’s check out some of the stats from CIO Insight that show how BYOD policies are transforming the workplace for the better. For instance, the research found that 62 percent of the 500 IT and business executives that took part in the survey said that BYOD policies increased productivity. Fifty-nine percent said that it leads to more employee flexibility, and 47 percent said that such policies lead to cost savings.

    Of course, companies still distribute smartphones and other devices among some employees. Fifty-eight percent of the surveyed organizations said that they will supply employees with devices, but also allow them to bring their own instead. Only eight percent of those surveyed said that they leave device acquisition entirely up to the employees.

    Those who do supply employees with smartphones or other devices will have to start budgeting out those purchases now. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed said that they will have to invest in hardware bundles within the next two years. Even if your employees do bring their own device, companies will still have to budget out the hardware required to distribute information among those smartphones.

    That being said, only 13 percent of survey respondents said that there’s heavy integration of mobile devices within companies. Those that have integrated mobile devices, however, are working on a number of projects to increase productivity among workers on mobile devices. Forty-nine percent of respondents are implementing virtual desktop systems so employees can work on the go, while 29 percent are building custom mobile apps to be distributed across business networks.

    The point of all this is to say that mobile integration is incredibly important. A BYOD policy only helps to increase the speed in which mobile integration occurs. Not to mention, employees will be pleased to use their own Android or iOS device, instead of a business mandated BlackBerry device.

  • Check Out The First Gameplay From Hearthstone: Heroes Of Warcraft

    At PAX East, Blizzard announced that it’s working on its first new, original Warcraft game in almost a decade. The game – Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – is a collectible trading card game that pits players against each other using creatures and spells from the Warcraft universe.

    Unfortunately, the first trailer didn’t really give us much of a look at the gameplay in Hearthstone. The latest trailer out of Blizzard remedies that by giving players a look at a match between a Paladin and a Warrior.

    Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will soon be available in closed beta. The full game will launch as a free to play title supported by microtransactions later this year.

  • Anonymous Defaces NAMBLA Web Site As Part Of #OpAlice

    Anonymous has a history with child predators. The hacktivist group frequently targets them during its operations, but it’s now launching a massive attack on numerous Web sites as part of a new operation.

    Anonymous announced today that it has taken down the North American Man/Boy Love Association’s Web site in protest of Alice Day. The unofficial holiday, originally known as Pedophile Pride Day, is celebrated every April 25. To counter the group’s message and in observation of Child Abuse Awareness Month, Anonymous will be taking down numerous child pornography Web sites around the world today.

    For those who can’t watch the video, here’s a transcript:

    April is child abuse awareness month, and coincidentally it is also a month in which child rapists, molesters and abusers celebrate a particular holiday. On April 25th, Abusers worldwide celebrate the holiday Alice Day, named after Alice Liddell and, “Alice In Wonderland”, originally Pedophile Pride Day. On this holiday the pedophiles celebrate, rape and molestation of little girls. Many pedophiles believe it is okay for them to celebrate “loving” a female child that day.

    We call upon all Anonymous Operatives to come forward and march with us as legion. To deface and cause chaos within the pedophile networks.

    To the public; On April 25th we will be conducting various operations involving online methods such as Distributed Denial of Service attacks, doxing, and website defacement. We ask that you please watch your children and be extra vigilant, because April 25th is like Christmas to them.

    The Daily Dot reports that Anonymous will be targeting every pedophile hub on the Net. The goal is to take them down and keep them down for as long as possible. The group obviously hopes it can also out as many pedophiles in the hope that those outed will be arrested.

    [h/t: Gizmodo]

  • Rayman Legends Brings Some Challenge To The Nintendo Download

    Ubisoft revealed this morning that the highly anticipated Rayman Legends will launch across the Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3 on September 3 in North America. Until then, Wii U owners can get their hands on a new “demo.”

    Nintendo announced that the Rayman Legends Challenges App is now available on the Wii U eShop. The “demo” challenges players to compete in online challenges across randomly generated levels. It’s a free download, and will remain on the Wii U eShop until the game’s full release in September.

    The other major release this week is Mega Man 4 on the 3DS eShop virtual console. The fourth entry in the classic Mega Man series is generally considered the point where the series started to go downhill, but it’s still a solid game.

    Here are the other releases coming to various Nintendo platforms this week:

  • CRAZY CONSTRUCTION (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS)
  • Color Commando (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo DSiWare)
  • SENGOKU (Virtual Console on Wii)

    • The Nintendo Download is a little sparse this week, and probably will continue to be leading up to E3. Nintendo may not be hosting a large press conference, but we’ll hopefully hear news on what the company has planned for the eShop in the coming months.

  • CISPA Is Kind Of Dead, But Not Really

    Last week, a cry rang out from privacy advocates everywhere as the House overwhelmingly passed CISPA. Those same advocates soon gathered up their forces for a fight in the Senate, but it looks like the Senate got to killing CISPA before they could.

    US News reports that the Senate has decided not to take up CISPA. In short, CISPA is dead. The bill that would have given companies full legal immunity when sharing your personal information with the government will have its remains scattered on the winds of history yet again.

    It seems that CISPA’s death can be largely attributed to two factors. For one, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, came out against CISPA saying it lacked privacy protections. Rockefeller holds considerable sway in the Senate, and his committee would have had a lot of say over CISPA. Secondly, President Obama’s veto threat most likely played a major role in the Senate’s rejection of CISPA.

    We can relax now that CISPA is dead, right? Unfortunately, the answer is a little unclear at this point. An unnamed representative on Rockefeller’s committee says that “issues and key provisions” of CISPA will be divvied up and made into separate bills. In other words, CISPA will be broken up into smaller, separate bills in the Senate. The problem with this approach is that some of the less vile, but still damaging, provisions of CISPA can make it through as they won’t be attached to the really bad stuff.

    Of course, there’s always the possibility that the Senate will craft a handful of bills that narrowly target the areas not covered by President Obama’s cybersecurity executive order without sacrificing civil liberties. It would certainly be nice, but the Senate’s past attempts at writing cybersecurity legislation certainly don’t inspire confidence.

    Either way, we won’t be seeing any cybersecurity legislation out of the Senate for a while. The unnamed representative says the Senate currently has its hands full with a number of other bills that take priority over cybersecurity, including the controversial Marketplace Fairness Act.

  • Draw Something 2 Now Available On iOS, Coming To Android Soon

    Zynga’s most high-profile acquisition of last year was OMGPOP and its game Draw Something. The game proved incredibly popular, but soon began to bleed users by the millions. Now Zynga is trying to win over those who left with a sequel.

    Zynga announced during its earnings results that Draw Something 2 is now available on iOS devices. Unlike other sequels that would be content with adding new words, OMGPOP has added a number of new features that encourages more sharing. Players can also finally save their own creations as well as the creations of others for later viewing:

    For the first time, players can save their drawings in their own galleries and check out the work of other burgeoning artists and celebrities too. The game has a full spectrum of new tools and colors, allowing players to tap into the full limits of their creativity. There are new textures and patterns, like zebra, plaid and camouflage; and new tools, like an 8bit Pixel Pen, Sparkle Pen, stamps, highlighter, crayon and more. There are also more than 100 new vibrant colors. The new Free Draw option gives players creative freedom to draw freestyle and share their art with the world.

    Of course, it wouldn’t be a sequel without some new words. Zynga says that Draw Something 2 features thousands of new words, including words “that touch on the latest pop culture trends and current events.”

    Draw Something 2 is now available for iOS devices in the App Store. Zynga says it will be on Google Play shortly.

  • Here’s Your First Look At The Multiplayer In Lost Planet 3

    At the beginning of this generation, Capcom was incredibly aggressive with new IPs like Dead Rising and Lost Planet. The former seems to have slowly died out, but the latter will be getting a new installment later this year.

    Capcom revealed today that Lost Planet 3 will have four multiplayer modes that challenge players to go toe-to-toe with each other or the giant bug-like Akrid that roam the icy wastes of the planet. Two of the modes – Scenario Mode and Akrid Survival – were detailed today:

    Scenario Mode sets each team with a series of either offensive or defensive challenges and mixes them up with the extreme and unpredictable conditions of E.D.N. III. Players can compete in both third-person on-foot action and in first-person combat using Vital Suits, a futuristic staple of the LP series.

    Akrid Survival sees two teams of three players compete independently of each other in a series of encounters against waves of hostile Akrid before the teams go head to head in a final PvP elimination round.

    It looks decent so far, but developer Spark Unlimited’s past endeavors do not inspire confidence. Remember, these are the guys behind Legendary and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. I highly recommend them if you’re looking for something worse than Duke Nukem Forever.

    Lost Planet 3 launches August 27 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

  • The Pirate Bay Moves To Iceland After Getting Kicked Out Of Greeland

    The Pirate Bay has been on the move quite a bit these past few months. The infamous Web site anticipated that its .se domain wasn’t going to last much longer and set out for free waters. It first moved to Spain and Norway, but soon found itself kicked out. It then moved to Greenland to much the same reception.

    After being tossed out of every port it came across, TorrentFreak reports that The Pirate Bay has finally found a home in Iceland. Its new .is domain reflects the move, and any attempt to visit old domains will redirect you to the new one.

    So, why Iceland? It seems that the company that operates the .is domain – ISNIC – won’t take any action against The Pirate Bay, or at least not yet. The company told TorrentFreak that it’s not responsible for what Web sites do on its domain. The only possible way for The Pirate Bay to be booted from its new .is domain is if the Icelandic courts issued a court order.

    For now, it looks like The Pirate Bay is safe in its new home. ISNIC has a good track record of hosting controversial sites without any issues. The country’s anti-piracy group will also probably stay away for a while as it’s still reeling from a piracy-related PR disaster from earlier this year.

  • Senate To Take Up Email Privacy Bill Today

    UPDATE: And it passed.

    Last week, Sen. Patrick Leahy said that the Senate Judiciary Committee would be marking up an update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The decades old bill allows law enforcement to obtain emails without a warrant as long as said email is 180 days old.

    The Hill reports that both the Senate and the House will be taking up their respective email privacy bills today. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be taking a look at Leahy’s bill – S. 607 – that simply requires the police to obtain a warrant when accessing any electronic communication, including email.

    In the original announcement of the mark up, Leahy said that ECPA must be updated to counter concerns over the “growing and unwelcome intrusions into our private lives in cyberspace.” Those concerns certainly came to a head earlier this month when documents obtained by the ACLU revealed that the IRS told its agents that they could obtain emails without a warrant. The agency also said that “Internet users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

    Since then, IRS Commissioner Steven Miller said that his agency always obtains a warrant before searching emails. Miller also said that his agency never snoops through email during civil investigations. It wasn’t exactly reassuring, but an updated ECPA would ensure that the IRS, or any government agency for that matter, would never be able to obtain emails without a warrant.

    It should be noted that the House will be making a mockery of itself this week by discussing an update to the ECPA after passing CISPA. The House Judiciary Committee will be discussing whether or not the ECPA should be updated to require that law enforcement obtain a warrant before accessing geolocation data. The irony here is that CISPA, in its current form, would allow mobile carriers to share geolocation data with the government without a warrant. Even if the carrier was found in violation of an updated ECPA, it would enjoy full legal immunity under CISPA.

    Even so, we’ll continue to follow both discussions and keep you up to date on any changes. The Senate seems to have made an updated ECPA a priority so we may see a final vote as early as next week. That is, of course, if the Senate doesn’t run into any problems with its current controversial bill – the Marketplace Fairness Act.

  • Developers Really Seem To Like The PS4 Controller

    The DualShock design has remained fairly consistent since its introduction in 1997. Even the DualShock 3, with its motion controls and curved analog triggers, looked almost just like previous incarnations. Sony is changing all that with the PlayStation 4, and (Sony’s) developers couldn’t be happier.

    Sony released a new video detailing the DualShock 4 and what developers think about it. Those speaking are internal Sony developers so they are somewhat obligated to love the new controller. That being said, there does seem to be a lot of love that went into the controller, and Sony says that it was designed with input from studios around the world.

    While it’s nice to know a bit more about the controller, gamers are eager to get a look at the actual PlayStation 4 hardware itself. We probably won’t be able to see that until E3 in June though. Until then, we’ll just have to make due with more videos about the DualShock 4 and other PS4 services.

  • Objective-C’s Growth In Popularity Has Stalled

    Traditional development trends has ensured that the C and C++ programming languages remain popular even decades after their creation. Despite being created in the same year as C++, Objective-C was never as popular. That all changed with the advent of the iPhone, but things are starting to slow down.

    The TIOBE Programming Community Index, an index that charts the popularity of programming languages, has found that Objective-C’s popularity has stopped growing after its meteoric rise from rank 42 in 2008 to rank 4 in 2012.

    Now, this doesn’t mean that the popularity of Objective-C will start to dramatically decrease. The popularity of iOS devices and Apple’s insistence that Objective-C be the only language used in iOS development ensures that the language will have a long life ahead of it.

    We can always make a few assumptions based on these findings though. One is that iOS development isn’t growing as fast as it used to. Developers building apps for iOS will continue to do so, but this stall in growth seems to indicate that new developers are not flocking to the platform.

    It could all change at a moment’s notice, however, especially if Apple does release a cheaper iPhone for emerging markets this year. The development communities in China, India and elsewhere could help catapult Objective-C to even greater heights as these teams scramble to get apps on the Apple App Store.

    As for the other languages, the top eight languages didn’t see a rise or decline in popularity compared to last year. C remains the most popular with Java and C++ taking up second and third place respectively. As you already read, Objective-C is at the number four spot, and C# rounds out the top five.

    Here’s the full chart showing the top 20 programming languages this month:

    Objective-C's Growth In Popularity Has Stalled

    You can check out the rest of the stats including a list of the top 50 programming languages in the world over at the TIOBE Programming Community Index page.

  • Video Sharing Can Help Developers Build A Community

    Back in March, YouTube announced that it was developing a live streaming API for game developers. The API, when integrated into games, would allow players to live stream their game straight to YouTube from game consoles. The API has already been incredibly successful in its first run on Call of Duty: Black Ops II and now more developers have come forward with success stories.

    Free Range Games and Kamcord Discuss building your community with video sharing. We will demo Free Range Games’ YouTube API integration in APO Snow

    Check out Google’s documentation for more on the YouTube API.

  • Learn How To Make Interactive Google+ Posts On iOS

    Facebook may be integrated into iOS, but it doesn’t mean every developer wants to integrate Facebook into their app. In fact, some prefer Google+. For those developers, Google is now hosting a number of tutorials that teach developers how to get the most out of Google+ on iOS.

    Last week, Google showed developers how to integrate Google+ Sign-In on iOS. Now the Google+ team is showing developers how to integrate interactive posts in Google+ on iOS.

    Check out Google’s documentation if you want to learn more about integrating interactive Google+ posts into iOS.

  • Senate Votes In Favor Of Moving Forward With Online Sales Tax Bill

    The Marketplace Fairness Act, a bill that would force online retailers to collect sales tax regardless of its physical location, has gained quite a bit of support in recent days. The Senate and White House are united in passing a bill that they claim will level the playing field between online businesses and retail stores. A new procedural vote from today cemented the Senate’s support for the bill.

    The Hill reports that the Senate voted in favor of the Marketplace Fairness Act yet again in a procedural vote that saw 75 senators come out in favor of the legislation compared to the 22 opposed. It should be noted that today’s vote was only procedural and does not represent the final vote. Still, the vote represents the bill’s overwhelmingly popularity in the Senate.

    Sen. Dick Durbin, one of the bill’s many sponsors, continued to preach the advantages of a national online sales tax bill:

    “Internet retailers have an advantage over brick and mortar retailers. This has caused many stores on Main Streets to face competition that is unfair … so we’re trying to level the playing field.”

    Despite the overwhelming support from many senators, lawmakers from states without a sales tax are voicing opposition to the bill. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire says that the bill will increase the tax burden on small businesses around the nation, regardless of the state’s sales tax laws. Shaheen’s opinion was echoed by many of the comments in yesterday’s article regarding the bill.

    Despite the opposition, it seems likely that the Marketplace Fairness Act will get through the Senate before the end of the week. Then the bill will move on to the House of Representatives where it’s expected to meet much tougher opposition at the hands of a Republican majority that’s incredibly hostile to the idea of any new taxes.

  • The Next Xbox Will Be Unveiled On May 21

    Earlier this month, rumors sprang up that Microsoft would be revealing the next Xbox on May 21. It turns out that those rumors were right on the money.

    Microsoft announced via its Facebook page and Major Nelson’s blog that the next Xbox will be unveiled on May 21 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST The event will take place at Microsoft’s Redmond Campus so this is decidedly a press only event. Those wanting to watch it from home will be able to do so on Spike TV, GameTrailers, Xbox.com and Xbox Live.

    Major Nelson says the event will reveal Microsoft’s “vision for Xbox” and give gamers a “real taste of the future.” It looks like we won’t be seeing very many games, however, as Major Nelson says that Microsoft will be “showcasing [its] full lineup of blockbuster games” at E3 in June.

    Based on this information, we can make some educated guesses as to how this is all going to go down. Microsoft will use the May 21 event to focus solely on the hardware, including the rumored Kinect 2.0.

    What you probably won’t see is Microsoft addressing the rumors of an always online console, or rumors of the next Xbox blocking used games. Those are very touchy subjects and even mentioning them at a large event would generate a lot of negative publicity.

    As for games, we’re probably not going to see very much at the unveiling. If anything, we’ll get what we got at Sony’s PS4 event – a lot of pretty tech demos and some vague announcements from third-party publishers. The real announcements will be saved for E3.

    Still, it’s exciting to think that we’re only a month away from both next generation consoles finally being outed to the public. Microsoft sure has taken its sweet time so the wait had better be worth it.

  • More Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Is Always A Good Thing

    Since being announced earlier this month, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon has become one of the most anticipated games of the year. We still have to wait a few weeks for the game’s release, but Ubisoft has released a new walkthrough to tide us over.

    Blood Dragon’s creative director walks us through the game with a wonderful narration that’s littered with expletives and buzzwords delivered with sarcasm. Check it out:

    Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on May 1. Best of all – players don’t need to own Far Cry 3 to enjoy the mayhem of Blood Dragon.

  • Australia Claims To Have Nabbed LulzSec Leader, Anonymous Says They Nabbed A Troll

    Just last week, a member of LulzSec was sentenced for his part in the Sony Pictures hack in 2011 that saw information from the site being spread across the Internet. Now Australia says it’s nabbed another member of the notorious hacking group.

    The Australian Federal Police announced yesterday evening that they arrested Matt Flannery, a 24-year-old IT professional from Point Claire. The police allege that he attacked and defaced a government Web site earlier in the month. Interestingly enough, the police also say that he’s a “self-proclaimed leader” of LulzSec.

    The police say Flannery used his position within an IT company to hack a number of clients. The police also warned that he would have attacked more Web sites had he stayed employed with the company.

    Flannery faces two counts of unauthorized modification of data to cause impairment and one count of unauthorized access to, or modification of, restricted data. The police note that the maximum penalty for the former is 10 years and 2 years for the latter.

    What’s interesting about all of this is that the police say he’s a “self-proclaimed leader” of LulzSec. Members of Anonymous and others have come out on Twitter to dispute this claim:

    As an added bonus, Gizmodo AU dug up this video of the alleged LulzSec “leader” singing along to Grease:

    [h/t: BBC]

  • Check Out Hasbro’s Toy Workshop Complete With 3D Printers

    Hasbro is in the business of making toys. Some of the most beloved franchises of our youth – Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and others – all come out of the behemoth toy maker. These toys are generally made in China, but the company now creates its prototypes and production models here in the U.S. with 3D printers.

    Gizmodo recently got a tour of Hasbro’s workshop that’s nestled in its Providence, Rhode Island headquarters. It’s here that toy makers create the next generation of Transformers with the help of 3D printers. It’s an incredibly fascinating look at how 3D printers are helping to reduce the time required to move a toy from prototype to full on production model.

    GIZMODO – Inside Hasbro: Model Shop Magic from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

    It’s safe to assume that toys were a major part of your childhood, as they were mine. It’s nice to see that toy companies are on the cutting edge of innovation when it comes to 3D printers and stereolithography machines.

    [h/t: 3ders]

  • Congresswoman Proposes Broadband Internet Subsidies For Low-Income Families

    For years, it was essential that every family had a phone line. The U.S. government started the Lifeline program to help impoverished families afford this essential communication tool. Now the Internet has overwhelmingly replaced traditional phone lines, but the Lifeline program hasn’t adapted to this reality. One Congresswoman is hoping to change that.

    Ars Technica reports that Rep. Doris Matsui has introduced the Broadband Adoption Act of 2013. The bill would modify the Lifeline program to provide cheaper broadband Internet services to low-income families across the country.

    “In today’s digital economy, if you don’t have access to the Internet you are simply at a competitive disadvantage. For example, more than 80 percent of available jobs now require online applications,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “The Internet is increasingly the economic engine for growth and innovation. The Lifeline program provides a tangible service to lower-income Americans and it is imperative that the Lifeline program be reformed and modernized to account for broadband services. We must ensure lower-income Americans have a greater opportunity to participate in the digital economy, whether it be for workforce training, education, finding a job or creating the next big idea.”

    Matsui says that a recent FCC report found that nearly 100 million Americans are without broadband Internet services. She places the blame squarely on the high cost of broadband Internet in America. Many low income families simply can’t afford the high cost of broadband Internet. The bill would help to make faster Internet affordable to all.

    Of course, the Broadband Adoption Act of 2013 isn’t just about providing faster Internet to low-income families. Matsui has envisioned a number of reforms to the Lifeline program for the FCC to enact if the bill were to become law:

  • The bill directs the FCC to establish a broadband Lifeline Assistance program that provides low-income Americans living in rural and urban areas with assistance in subscribing to affordable broadband service.
  • The proposal would require the FCC, in calculating the amount of support, to routinely study the prevailing market price for service and the prevailing speed adopted by consumers of broadband service.
  • The bill is technology neutral to promote competition from broadband service providers under the program.
  • The bill allows eligible consumers to choose how they would like their Lifeline support- whether for broadband, mobile, basic telephone services or a bundle of these services. The bill clarifies that eligible households will qualify for only one lifeline support amount for one of those functions, not for multiple purposes.
  • The bill requires the FCC to establish a national database to determine consumer eligibility for Lifeline and to prevent duplication.
  • The bill encourages the FCC to consider providing a preference to participating broadband service providers that include components involving digital literacy programs as part of their offerings.
  • Eligible households must meet federal low-income guidelines or qualify for one of a handful of social service programs including, but not limited to: SNAP, Head Start, WIC, National School Lunch Program, Tribal TANF or Medicaid.

    • It’s hard to see how anybody in the telecom industry would be opposed to this bill. It would net ISPs more subscribers to their expensive broadband plans while receiving plenty of free government money. There’s an argument to be had that we can’t be spending more money on social welfare programs, but the counterargument is that universal Internet access is worth it.

  • Nintendo Posts A Small Profit, But Wii U Is Still Underperforming

    Nintendo posted its annual earnings release this morning as its fiscal year ended in March. The results are not pretty for the Wii U, but the 3DS is still going strong.

    Nintendo announced today that the Wii U has sold only 3.45 million units since its launch last November. The company originally had hoped to sell 5.5 million units, but it lowered its forecast to 4 million after a less than great January.

    Of course, the really bad news is that the Wii U only managed to sell 200,000 units in the first three months of this year. As Kotaku points out, the Xbox 360 sold more than that in March alone.

    Nintendo recognizes that the Wii U is underperforming and takes full responsibility for that. The company had recently delayed a number of key titles for Wii U to later in the year. Nintendo hopes that it can revitalize the Wii U when a number of certifiable hits launch later this year:

    For the “Wii U” system, launched in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, there were some delays in software development that resulted in intervals between new software title releases at the early stage of this year. Taking this into consideration, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, we plan to concentrate on proactively releasing key Nintendo titles from the second half of this year through next year in order to regain momentum for the platform. Nintendo strives to improve the sales by communicating the compelling nature of our hardware and software to as many people as possible through our new network service called “Miiverse,” which offers an environment where people can empathize with others and share their gaming experiences. We also strive to reduce costs to improve hardware profitability.

    As for the 3DS, it’s doing much better than the Wii U. The system sold 5.7 million units in Japan alone. It also sold 4.3 million units in North America, and 4 million units in the rest of the world. Nintendo did, however, sell less 3DS units in North America and Europe this year than it did last year. The only territory to see a sales increase was Japan.

    With the release of Monster Hunter 4 later this year, Nintendo’s dominance in Japan is assured. What about the North American and European markets though? Nintendo says that it will continue cranking out key software titles while helping to bring over Japanese games, like the recently announced Bravely Default, to broaden the appeal of the 3DS in the West:

    For “Nintendo 3DS,” in order to set in the overseas markets the same trend as in the Japanese market, we will concentrate on proactively releasing key Nintendo titles. “Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” a hit title which contributed to sales growth in Japan, will be released in the U.S. and Europe in June 2013, and the latest titles from the Pokémon series, “Pokémon X Version/Pokémon Y Version,” will be released globally in October 2013. In addition, we are planning to more actively support the Japanese software developers in distributing their key titles overseas. In Japan, we continuously strive to stimulate the market by releasing new titles such as “Tomodachi Collection,” launched on April 18, 2013 as a sequel to the popular “Nintendo DS” version of “Tomodachi Collection.” Furthermore, in overseas markets, we will more actively attempt to boost the sales rate of the downloadable format of packaged software, a sales method that we started last summer, in order to increase the number of new sales opportunities and improve our profitability.

    Now this might look like gloom and doom to some, but Nintendo actually had a pretty good year. The company may have posted an operating loss of $366 million, but it made a small profit of $71 million thanks to the depreciation of the yen. The company is still not making a profit with hardware sales so the pressure will be on Nintendo to rejuvenate the Wii U this year.

    We can only wait until later this year when Nintendo starts rolling out the heavy hitters to see if the Wii U can get on its feet after such a disappointing launch period.