Weak Wii U Sales Hurt Nintendo's Profits
Thursday, April 25, 2013
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Weak Wii U Sales Hurt Nintendo's Profits |
- Weak Wii U Sales Hurt Nintendo's Profits
- 15-Year-Old May Be on Her Way to Mars
- Logitech FabricSkin Keyboard Case Protects From Spills
| Weak Wii U Sales Hurt Nintendo's Profits Posted: 24 Apr 2013 10:44 PM PDT  The next-generation console was released in the United States in November 2012 and Japan six weeks later. From launch until the end of 2012, it sold 3.06 million units, according to Nintendo's Q3 earnings. From Jan 1. to March 31, the end of the fiscal year, the Wii sold about 390,000 units worldwide. These sales failed to hit Nintendo's original target of 5.5 million units by a wide stretch, and Nintendo's earnings report said the sales slump caused it to lose 36.4 billion yen. Nintendo attributed the "drop in momentum" to the fact most of the Wii U's upcoming titles have been delayed. The Wii U hasn't had many software releases in 2013, excluding some third-party games. Big sellers like Pikmin 3 and the The Wonderful 101 have been delayed for several months; Pikmin 3 only received an official release date — Aug. 4 — last week. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata apologized to fans for the delay in a Nintendo Direct presentation in February. Nintendo said its plans for the 2013 fiscal year include "proactively releasing key Nintendo titles from the second half of this year through next year in order to gain momentum to the platform." For comparison, Nintendo's Wii, released in 2006, outsold the the Wii U last year, selling 3.98 million units worldwide. Nintendo's portable 3DS saw stronger sales in the last fiscal year. The system sold strongest in Japan, selling almost 6 million units in the past 12 months. North America's sales were around 4.22 million units, and Nintendo sold 16 million software titles for the system during that same period. With the 3DS seeing its first Pokemon franchise in October, which historically has been Nintendo handhelds' biggest franchise, along with a steady stream of new releases through the rest of the fiscal year, it can be supposed that Nintendo will continue to see that system grow both inside and outside of Japan. According to numbers from NPD, March saw a 50% gain in software sales for the 3DS from the same month the previous year. Nintendo predicts a much stronger year for 2014, if the company releases software to entice fans. The company predicts it will sell 9 million Wii U systems and 18 million 3DS systems in the 2013 fiscal year. [Mashable] |
| 15-Year-Old May Be on Her Way to Mars Posted: 24 Apr 2013 10:21 PM PDT  At just 15 years old, Harrison knows what she wants to do with her life: become the first astronaut on Mars in 2030. And the ever-so-keen Harrison — a well-spoken Minnesota high school student who has a confidence that doesn't come naturally to most teenagers — knew picking Parmitano's brain would bring her one step closer. "He had an hour before flight, and we talked for the whole time," she tells Mashable. "He was really interested in my dream and wanted to stay in touch." Parmitano lived up to his promise, and now the two are undertaking an unprecedented project. When Parmitano travels to the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft this May, Harrison will serve as his Earth-based liaison. Each day, Parmitano will correspond via email with Harrison, who will in turn distribute his photos, video and research to the world on her blog. Their hope is to continue the buzz that Twitter's favorite astronaut Chris Hadfield, who returns to Earth in May, has generated while on the ISS. "Commander Hadfield has done such amazing job of getting the public interested in the ISS, and we don't want that to go away when he comes back down," she says. "Luca is going to carry on the flag." Harrison, who operates under the online persona "Astronaut Abby," has already amassed an impressive following. \Harrison's niche celebrity, though, wasn't her original intention. It all started with an eighth-grade project she was doing about the ISS. "My mom helped me set up Twitter to get in touch with NASA employees for quotes," she says. "So I started sharing pictures of projects I was working on and writing about my dreams." NASA and other influencers in the space community took notice and helped fill her plate with projects. Harrison now travels around the country promoting space and STEM careers in schools. She's introducing a pen-pal program in which she'll send readers personal emails about her experiences. This August, she will speak at a convention for the Mars Society about her No. 1 love: the importance of putting a human on the Red Planet. "I was raised on a diet of sci-fi and Star Wars, but the science drew me," Harrison says. "The curiosity of the unknown is why I'm focused on Mars. There is so much we can learn; it's just an outstanding amount of knowledge waiting there for us to discover." Even as she manages these projects, her public-facing appearance and an upcoming trip to Russia for Parmitano's launch, Harrison is still a kid. She's studying hard to get into her college of choice — she plans to double major in biology and geology — and has social plans for the summer. So she relies heavily on her mother, Nicole, who says she knew her daughter's space aspiration was not merely a childhood fascination. "I told her [...] if she was serious she needs to research what it would take because it's a very hard career to attain," Mrs. Harrison tells Mashable via email. "She came back a week later with two sheets of paper and said, 'Mom there are two ways to become an astronaut: civilian and military. Here are the two paths and this is what I am going to do to make my dream happen.'" Today, Mrs. Harrison helps her daughter with article ideas, editing and publishing her posts, and assisting her on social outreach to make sure her news is getting out in a timely manner. Perhaps most importantly, Mrs. Harrison reviews and monitors all of her daughter's communications. "Reaching out to budding scientists and kids around the globe is what really drives Abby to chase her dreams. I've been so inspired by her as she continues to achieve her goals," Mrs. Harrison says. "At the rate she is going, I have no doubt she'll be the first astronaut on Mars." [Mashable] |
| Logitech FabricSkin Keyboard Case Protects From Spills Posted: 24 Apr 2013 10:04 PM PDT  Logitech has introduced the FabricSkin Keyboard Folio, a case that protects your tablet from drops and scratches, as well as liquid spills. That's because both the inside and outside of the keyboard case are covered with a liquid-repellent FabricSkin surface — made of either woven cotton or matte leather — designed to keep your iPad clean and dry. The FabricSkin keyboard has full-size keys integrated into the fabric, so if you accidentally spill some liquid, it's repelled before it can do any damage to your tablet. Think of it as the old Scotchgard for couches — spills won't get absorbed into the material. You can choose from a variety of bright colors; Mars Red Orange, Carbon Black, Mystic Blue, and Sunflower Yellow. The FabricSkin keyboard case ($149) is available for the iPad 2 and later. [Mashable] |
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