Media, Entertainment and Gaming
ò Microsoft Corp announced its plan to launch the advanced version of its Xbox 360 game console, Xbox 360 Elite, this October in Japan. The device, which is popular in the US, has slow sales in Japan, where it trails behind Nintendo and Sony. The Elite's 120-gigabyte hard drive is six times bigger than the regular Xbox 360's hard drive and twice as big as that of Sony's PlayStation 3 console. It can store thousands of songs as well as a library of high-definition TV shows, movies and arcade games. Microsoft said it will sell the Xbox 360 Elite for 47,800 yen ($390), compared with 29,800 yen for the most basic version of the Xbox 360.
ò Enterbrain, a gaming magazine, reported that the combined sales of video game consoles and software in Japan posted a climb of 25.8 percent in the first half of 2007 from a year before to a record 318.9 billion yen ($2.5 billion). The magazine ascribed the surge to a strong demand for new machines. Of the total, sales of game consoles went up 67.7 percent to 153.7 billion yen ($1.2 billion), with software sales registering a growth of 2.1 percent to 165.2 billion yen (US$1.3 billion). In the January-June period, Nintendo Co. reported sales of about 1,775,000 units of its Wii console, compared with 504,000 units of Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo also disclosed that it has sold some 3,714,000 units of its DS hand-held console. Sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 were placed at 123,000 units. Enterbrain said it looks forward to brisk sales of game consoles and software as new games are launched.
Hardware
ò Toshiba disclosed filing a lawsuit against German DVD duplicator EDD Bizz GmbH and its director over alleged patent infringement. The Japanese company said it has filed the case with the Duesseldorf Regional Court. According to Toshiba, EDD had manufactured and sold DVD videodiscs in Germany without concluding a licensing agreement with Toshiba concerning the patents. The agreements are needed to satisfy DVD format specifications.
Ventures/Investments
ò Casio Computer and NTT DoCoMo announced their decision to set up a joint venture to provide digital payment services. The joint venture will have a capitalisation of 750 million yen ($6.1 million), and will be called CXD Next. Under the agreement, Casio will own 60 percent of the entity, with NTT DoCoMo owning the rest. The two companies said CXD Next will begin providing services mainly for DoCoMo's iD mobile credit-card platform in September.
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