Japanese game maker Nintendo Co has upgraded its 3DS handheld device to sport a screen nearly twice as big as the previous model amid hot competition from smartphones and tablets that are wooing people away from dedicated gaming machines.
The Kyoto-based maker of the Super Mario games and Wii home console said yesterday the Nintendo 3DS LL, called 3DS XL in overseas markets, goes on sale in Japan and Europe on July 28, and in the US from Aug. 19.
It will sell in Japan for ￥18,900 (US$236) and US$199.99 in the US. The firm did not give a price for Europe.
The 3DS, which has a touch panel and delivers 3D imagery without special glasses, has two screens — one is 8.96cm and the other 7.67cm.
The LL or XL version’s screens are 12.40cm and 10.62cm, according to the company. Screen dimensions refer to the diagonal measurement, so LL screens are 1.9 times bigger.
“There were demands for a bigger screen and so we are ready to respond with a size-variation model,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in a video on the company’s Web site. “You can enjoy powerful 3D imagery.”
It weighs a bit more and is slightly bigger than the previous model, but battery life was extended to up to six-and-a-half hours for 3D games from the previous five hours, and up to 10 hours from eight hours for regular games.
Nintendo and Japanese rival Sony Corp with its PlayStation Vita handheld are fighting tough competition from smartphones and tablets, which allow users to not only play games, but also spend time on social media and other entertainment.
Nintendo has sold 17 million 3DS machines worldwide so far. Sony has sold 1.8 million of its PS Vita machines.
Nintendo is also planning a new home console called Wii U for later this year. It will have a 15.75cm touchscreen controller that works separately from what is on the TV monitor, but it will not work as a portable like the 3DS or 3DS LL.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS