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New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS will be sold as a physical cartridge and as a direct download this August, Nintendo said Friday.
Image: Nintendo

Nintendo will sell New Super Mario Bros 2. and other games for 3DS and Wii U as both direct downloads and physical packages beginning in August, company president Satoru Iwata said in a financial briefing Friday.

The company has long offered two separate slates of game content — high-end games sold on discs and cartridges, and smaller games via download. Nintendo is expanding its digital business into games like New Super Mario Bros. 2 “in order to adapt to the changes in the circumstances surrounding the video game industry and to create a new business opportunity,” Iwata said.

Other Nintendo-published 3DS games, such as the Brain Age sequel currently in development, will henceforth be sold as both digital and physical products, Iwata said. Games for the company’s next-generation home console Wii U, to be released later this year worldwide, will also be available in both formats.

Customers will be able to get downloadable games for 3DS and Wii U in two different ways. They can purchase them directly from Nintendo’s eShop online store, or they can buy download codes from traditional game retailers. Nintendo will sell these at wholesale prices to the retailers, which can then set any price they desire. So if a physical game goes on sale, retailers can also mark down the price of the digital copy.

“By taking this approach, there will not be a situation like ‘there is no markdown for the digital products while markdowns are the norm for the packaged software,’” Iwata said.

However, Iwata also stated that when purchased through Nintendo directly, digital and physical media will be sold at the same price point. This differs from rival Sony’s PlayStation Store where digital versions of games tend to sell for less than their boxed counterparts.

Including retailers in this process was important because the act of buying a game in a store is “familiar” to a majority of consumers, Iwata said. It is also attractive to customers who are reluctant to share credit card information online, as well as give customers who have no credit cards an easy way to shop for games. By placing downloadable games in retail stores, it will increase customers’ awareness of the software library.

“If only the consumers who proactively visit the Nintendo eShop are aware of the digital download software that we deploy, there is no chance that our digital business can drastically expand,” he said.

Nintendo’s customers are ready to buy its games digitally, Iwata said: Over 70% of Nintendo 3DS handhelds in Japan and the United States have connected to the Internet, “the highest ratio among all the handheld video game systems Nintendo has launched.” While acknowledging that the Europe and Australia were trailing at only 50% connectivity, Iwata said that the situation in those territories has improved.

In his closing remarks, Iwata took time to clarify Nintendo’s digital outlook, particular in regards to add-on downloadable content. He said the company clearly distinguishes “digital distribution of packaged software from add-on content” and “we do not intend to offer any products that the consumers deem incomplete.” He made clear that Nintendo would never charge players a fee for a chance to win in-game items, a popular and profitable model used in social games. Japanese publisher Square Enix made a similar promise in this week’s Dragon Quest X Online announcement.

Iwata said “Nintendo does not believe such a business model can establish long-lasting relationships with our consumers,” and made a point to deny that the next Animal Crossing game, in development for Nintendo 3DS, would be centered around a microtransaction model.

By: Daniel Feit
Source: http://www.wired.com...download-games/

Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy, 1992) The puffball makes his debut. It introduced basic Kirby tactics like flying and engulfing enemies. Image: VGMuseum/Nintendo/Wired

Kirby Super Star was a huge part of my childhood. I grew up on Super Nintendo. The postcard-perfect scene was nearly Rockwellian, as far as gaming memories go: There I was, 10 or so, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to my little brother or a school buddy, in front of the 12-inch, rabbit-eared TV my parents allowed in my room. Usually a box of Cheez-Its was involved. It was awesome.

Looking back, it was all very wholesome, especially considering that the Kirby series — which debuted in Japan 20 years ago, on Apr. 27, 1992 — often hinged on cuteness and cooperative play.

But what else played into the longevity of this innocuous, gum-ball-like parent-pleaser? How has he maintained a spot in the Nintendo pantheon, alongside certain Italian-American plumbers and Hyrulian elves? Let’s break down the puff’s popularity. (Click through the gallery above to track Kirby’s evolution over the past two decades.)

Broad Appeal
Like any mascot, Kirby’s purpose is to pull in as many consumers as possible and fashion a recognizable brand. His way of doing that? By being unbearably cute. See: his high-pitched cheers, a Madonna-sized stockpile of costumes for each power Kirby steals after inhaling an enemy, etc.

Developed in the late ’80s by a crackerjack 19-year-old budding designer named Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby’s appearance is likely a product of Japan’s historical love for cuteness. But even the most precious of critters need that X-factor to really break through.

“Japanese consumers don’t just see cute characters and go bananas. This country is crawling with cute. So for a character to really hit it big, it needs something to stand out,” says Osaka-based writer Brian Ashcraft.

“Kirby is an interesting character, because the character’s first game was designed for beginner players,” he says. “I think the character’s design reflects it, and you get a non-threatening, kid-friendly hero.”

Plus, always complementing Kirby is upbeat music that adds to the atmosphere of adorable. Composer Jun Ishikawa has been charged with providing the music for many of Kirby’s adventures, including Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, an outing that got particular attention for its soundtrack.

A Flexible Franchise
Yet Kirby’s lovable appearance is but a stitch in the fabric of his appeal. Games like Kirby’s Epic Yarn for Wii gave Kirby the DIY treatment, complete with yarn-made characters and graphic accents like zippers, spools, and buttons. It harkened back to Paper Mario, not only because of its textile-inspired presentation but because it proved that, as long as you have a marketable, well-received main character, the rest is pretty much a blank canvas. The potential for spin-offs? Endless!

Consider the fact that, despite the traditional side-scrolling action that dominates the main Kirby games, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory have molded the franchise to fit different needs, spanning genres and diversifying gameplay. There was Kirby’s Dream Course, the 1995 bizarro golf outing that resembled Looney Toons‘ Wackyland in setting, and Kirby’s Avalanche, a match-four puzzle game from the same year.

In the 2000s, Kirby would return to his handheld roots and cultivate an extensive oeuvre on Nintendo’s portables, with action-puzzle games like Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble for Game Boy Color, and the colorful, stylus-only Kirby: Canvas Curse for the DS. In 2003, he took to the racing genre with Kirby Air Ride for the GameCube. In Kirby Super Star, the game was replete with mini-games that tested your timing, fights that spoofed RPG battles, and collect-’em-all item hunts.

Just like his Nerf-like body would suggest, Kirby is indeed malleable, and his wide appeal and consistently simple style of gameplay allow Nintendo to fit him into various situations depending on the company’s need.

Tried-and-True Gameplay
Kirby titles stand the test of time. Initially designed for greenhorn gamers, Kirby grew in terms of his powers, which would set the stage for the rest of the series. Kirby’s second game, Kirby’s Adventure for the original NES in 1993, stunned gamers with visuals that ostensibly outstripped the console’s power. It also expanded on the character’s signature inhaling technique introduced in his debut, Kirby’s Dream Land — the game that’s celebrating its 20th birthday this week.

In the sequel, Kirby could assume a variety of different abilities by sucking in different baddies. Fitting for such a flexible character, Kirby’s enduring charm is partly rooted in his copying ability, which constantly creates new content for the player: New controls, new techniques, new animations, new graphics. It’s a distinct brand that Kirby’s built and been able to maintain for the last two decades.

Another common theme in our roseate hero’s series is teamwork-fueled play. In Kirby’s main, side-scrolling games, a second player (known as “Helpers” in Kirby Super Star) can join Kirby, fighting alongside him. If one character picks up some life-replenishing food during the game, the chow’s healing powers can be shared, so long as the characters touch each other quickly enough. In the four-player Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, the most recent Kirby adventure, players can hop on and ride each other.

A multi-player co-op mode may seem like nothing groundbreaking, but back in the day, lots of two-player games only pitted players against one another, or at least had them swap turns playing through levels for the highest score. In Kirby 64, one of the main themes is how Kirby’s rivals befriend him to battle a mysterious force known as Dark Matter. Even King Dedede, Kirby‘s Bowser equivalent, lends his efforts to the cause.

A True Videogame Icon
The series’ approachability and classic (yet easily adjustable) gameplay formula have sold over 30 million games sold across 20 titles, making Kirby a cash cow for Nintendo. What’s turned into a money-making machine has also become a videogaming institution.

Though probably not quite as synonymous with Nintendo as “Mario,” Kirby will likely continue to serve the Big N well as a continued stand-in for a solid platformer, or for a pinball/touch-screen/bocce ball/racing puzzler. You know, wherever Kirby’s needed. And trust us, there will always be a need for a beady-eyed marshmallow that can eat anything and anyone, can breathe fire, and can make millions of dollars.

By: Bryan Lufkin
Source: http://www.wired.com...th-anniversary/

Hyman Strachman, a 92-year-old World War II veteran from Long Island, might be one of the most prolific individual movie pirates alive: he's copied more than an estimated 300,000 bootleg DVDs over the course of eight years. And he's mailed every single one of those discs, at his own expense, to U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports The New York Times.

He's known as "Big Hy" by the beneficiaries who are aware of him - some aren't even aware of him at all. However, they are all appreciative of his efforts, which involved up to 60 hours a week of dedicated disc copying at its peak. Strachman sends the troops first-run movies, including titles like "Transformers," "The Hangover," "Gran Torino," "The Artist," "The King's Speech" and more. Grateful soldiers have mailed Big Hy several binders worth of letters and pictures in appreciation.

He does not rip copies from store-bought discs, or download the movies from a source like BitTorrent. Strachman actually buys bootlegged discs from a local dealer near his home, then makes copies of them to blank discs. The movies he buys are usually either illegal recordings made in theaters ("cams"), or studio releases that are leaked in advance.

Strachman originally started out copying one movie at a time with his desktop computer, before obtaining a $400 professional duplicator that can make seven copies at a time. He stuffs 84 discs (seven copies of 12 movies) into a U.S. Postal Service fixed-rate box and mails them to Army chaplains, who Strachman says do not sell the discs and are effective distributors.

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America responded to The New York Times' request for a comment with a tempered statement. "We are grateful that the entertainment we produce can bring some enjoyment to them while they are away from home," the spokesman said.

Strachman does not keep any of the copied movies for himself, and destroys the master copies when he's done with them. His operation is also winding down as more troops return from combat missions.

By Nathan Tsui
Source: http://www.neowin.ne...vies-for-troops

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oops we had downtime for the last couple of days, we're not going into a lot of details but bottom line is we're back, we're making sure this doesn't happen again and we're working on keeping the forum in perfect conditions, thanks for understanding!

Before Megaupload was shutdown the company was preparing to go public and enter the US stock market with a multi-billion dollar IPO. While the US authorities were conducting their criminal investigation, Megaupload had discussions with some of the ‘Big Four’ auditors and several of the world’s largest investments banks. The top of the financial world was looking at a huge potential tech IPO with a billion dollar valuation, but these plans ended abruptly in January.

According to a US indictment, Kim Dotcom and the rest of the “Mega Conspiracy” were running a criminal operation.

They are accused of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement.

These are strong accusations that could potentially result in two decades of jail time for the people involved but according to Kim Dotcom, the charges are “nonsense.”

In recent years Megaupload surrounded itself with some of the best lawyers who all guaranteed that the company was operating a legitimate business. In fact, Kim Dotcom informs TorrentFreak that his company was planning to enter the US stock market through one of the largest tech IPOs in history.

Megaupload was negotiating with the world’s top accountancy firms to become auditors and large international banks were interested in underwriting the public offering. Aside from an IPO, Megaupload also researched the option of becoming publicly listed through a reverse merger, where it would buy an already listed company.

Hong Kong-based corporate advisor Robert Lim was asked by Megaupload management to help advise on this endeavor, and he agreed to give us some more background on the work that was done up until the raids in mid-January.

“I started providing advice to Megaupload management on exploring and researching options on becoming publicly listed by IPO or back door listing and other fund-raising options in early 2011,” Lim says. “I understand the management and some of the shareholders had been discussing and exploring these options even prior to this time.”

Preparing an IPO is not an easy or quick process, but Megaupload had serious intentions and was talking with several of the “Big Four” auditors.

“Megaupload management had discussion with a number of the ‘Big Four’ largest international professional accountancy firms , which handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies. These Big Four firms were invited to be the auditor and to work together with management to build out a road map to prepare Megaupload for an IPO,” Lim explained.

“This included any management and corporate restructuring to enhance efficiency and management of the group, and to review and enhance internal controls and corporate governance processes in the company as needed. Basically, some of the essential key things private companies need to do to prepare for public listing.”

In other words, the auditors would conduct a thorough review of Megaupload on virtually all aspects, which is not generally something a criminal operation would be interested in




Besides cooperating with the top audit firms, Megaupload also approached several of the world’s leading investment banks to assist with the IPO plan. According to Lim the list of banks included those experienced in taking technology companies to the stock market.

In an earlier conversation with TorrentFreak, Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom mentioned several of the interested parties by name (withheld from publication). Lim confirmed that the banks Megaupload talked to were very open to the IPO plan, which he believes could have been very successful.

“Most of the response was positive. As long as Megaupload provided the commitment and flexibility to follow the necessary road map recommended by the professional firms to prepare the company for an IPO, it should not have been a problem.”

Just how successful the plan could have been becomes apparent when the numbers come into play. As a profitable company that generated a healthy profit in its short existence, the company was looking at a multi-billion dollar valuation.

“Despite the global economic downturn, the tech sector still seems to be providing the most successful IPOs. Therefore, underwriters said Megaupload had a good chance to be a very successful IPO, with an estimated valuation of at least a couple of billion US dollars,” Lim told us.

After all, Megaupload was a reasonably large and very fast growing tech company and also a leader in its sector. Furthermore, unlike many high-profile tech companies going for an IPO including some video file sharing companies that had successful IPOs, Megaupload was profitable.

However, this bright future was shattered early 2012 when the US authorities shut down Megaupload and arrested several people connected to the site.

Lim was shocked by the news, and he believes that the IPO plan is an indication that the company isn’t really the criminal conspiracy the US authorities claim it to be.

“Objectively speaking, for the criminal case it brings up the question if there really was a so-called ‘Mega-Conspiracy’ among Megaupload management. It is clear Megaupload management was seriously exploring options for taking the company to public listing,” Lim told us.

“They also knew full well that it would require a lot of scrutiny, due diligence and review of the operations, financials and overall business model of Megaupload not only by the auditors / accountants, lawyers for regulatory filings and IPO underwriters, but also the various regulatory agencies which govern the stock exchanges and public markets.”

“This does not fit with the ‘Mega-Conspiracy’ concept that Megaupload management is accused of, including that they knowingly and secretly conspired to do and hide criminal activities in Megaupload,” Lim adds.

These revelations do indeed raise many questions, including whether the US government was aware of Megaupload’s plans.

It seems likely that the Megaupload legal team will reference the company’s extensive plans to enter the stock market in their upcoming defense. While it doesn’t answer the question of whether Megaupload’s operators are guilty or not, it does show that the company believed it was legitimate and wasn’t trying to hide anything.

source: http://torrentfreak....lar-ipo-120417/
by: Ernesto