Nintendo 3DS tops Japan’s Hardware charts despite law suit over its 3D screen by Tomita Technologies
It has been a bittersweet week in the world of gaming for Nintendo, with news of its portable handheld gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS, reaching the top of the sales charts in Japan, while at the same time having a law suit filed against it for the technology
used in its 3D enabled screen.
Starting with the more positive news; Nintendo retook the top spot in the Japanese Media Create Hardware sales charts with the 3DS having a strong week of sales.
In fact, the 3DS sold an impressive 2328 units more than its previous week’s figure. In simple terms the 3DS sold 27,905 units in the previous week, with this week’s sales standing at 30,233 units sold. Sticking to the trend of using mathematics to wow the
reader, Bettor.com can also inform you that the figure equates to 4319 units sold each day.
Moving on from the mathematics and back into the gaming world, Sony’s own handheld portable gaming device, the PlayStation Portable, also recorded another strong week in sales.
The PSP managed to move to 29,871 units, an impressive figure, which saw it stay in the 29000’s for the second week running (the PSP sold 29,168 units in the week before).
So all around, it seems that portable gaming consoles are doing well in the Japanese market. The PlayStation 3 stood in third place selling an impressive 26,441 units of its own.
However, things were not all rainbows and butterflies for Nintendo as they had to face an all too familiar term: litigation. Nintendo had to deal with law suits for its DS’ use of ‘touch’ as a primary method of control, as well as for the use of motion control
for the Wii.
Nintendo’s latest trip to court is now due to their alleged use of the 3D screen technology which Tomita Technologies claims to be their intellectual, as well as Patented, property. In fact Patent number 7417664 does sound pretty close to the technology
the 3DS uses, "Stereoscopic image picking up and display system based upon optical axes cross-point information."
For those readers who do not have a degree in advanced electronic engineering, Bettor.com has you covered. It is basically a patent for a 3D screen which does not require the viewer to wear 3D glasses.
Tomita Technologies though, are certain that Nintendo was aware of the patent and simply chose to ignore it. The complaint read, "Nintendo's America's infringement of the 664 patent has been, and continues to be, willful."
Nintendo however, has not commented on the news, though one can expect things to become clearer in the coming days.
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