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Sony operational profit to surge, thanks or no thanks to PS3?
Apparently, this fiscal year will see a surge in profits thanks to Sony's gaming divison, believe it or not. This is according to Nikkei business daily and multiple other sites reporting similar bits o' news. The news is this: Sony's profits could rise five-fold to 400 billion yen (about $3.36 billion) thanks to not only Western LCD TV sales, but Sony's game division.The fiscal period that ended March 31 are expected to yield reports of 60 billion yen earnings -- the actual results will be released on May 16th. However, there's supposed to be a 200 billion yen loss due to the PS3 (we're confused, too... games and hardware must be quite separate). Nikkei talks about the rumored 80GB PS3 and a report of a 67% increase in PS3 shipments -- Sony is passively denying the latter, the former coming from a Sony spokesperson. So a new PS3 model is being considered.One final note to giggle about. Nikkei said that another thing that will help Sony's financial situation is "that Sony would also benefit from not having a massive battery recall as it did its previous fiscal year." Thank you, Nikkei.[Via GameDaily]
Okay, so maybe Sega doesn't love your PSP?
We should be cautious about this, especially because it was reported by DS Fanboy. Apparently, according to a report in Nikkei, Sega will move development from the PSP to the DS, and will even make something that will "surprise absolutely everyone." I wish I could confirm, but my grasp on the nihongo isn't too great.But Sega will be wary, of course. Nintendo's platforms have been notorious for being great for Nintendo games, not really third party ones. "We [Sega] have to do a lot of thinking about titles for Nintendo's hardware, because Nintendo's own titles are extremely strong. It really is difficult to sell a title as a third party."
Wiimote prototypes
A recent scan from the Japanese magazine Nikkei Business shows a few of the very early prototype controllers for the Wii. The far left version is certainly closest to the final product, though perhaps more TV remote-like. The lower-right shows a Gamecube-like controller that doubles as a throwing disc for your dog, and the upper-right shows some sort of twist-mechanism device. But the center? What in the world could that have been used for? Certainly, Nintendo's mantra of simplicity is effective, but a one-button wonder could hardly have managed Twilight Princess, we think.After the hundreds of fan-made controllers that were going around the web pre-TGS '05, it's interesting to see what Nintendo themselves were dreaming up. Anyone think of something similar?
Apple said to be working with Softbank on "co-branded" handset
Japanese news agency Nikkei is reporting that Apple and new Vodafone Japan owner Softbank are working together to develop cellphones capable of downloading and playing music from the iTunes store. Details are, of course, very slim at this point, as we don't even know whether to characterize this as a "true" iPhone, or simply a ROKR-like model featuring only software from the iPod manufacturer powering a non-Apple handset. However, Nikkei is quoting sources that say the phone, which may be released as early as this year (and which is definitely NOT pictured alongside this post), is expected to sport both Softbank and Apple branding, which may indicate that Cupertino will have a hand in developing the hardware as well. Whatever they're working on, we wanna know about it, and we won't rest until we have a ton of specs and pics for you.
