And the battle over the 3D camera's patent infringement continues.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/36323
Nintendo has been ordered to pay royalties on every 3DS sale to Seijiro Tomita of Tomita Technologies USA, plus a set fine. This all comes at the end of the heated legal battle between Nintendo and Tomita Technologies over a patent dispute started back in 2011 over the use of glasses-free 3D technology.
Although Tomita previously asked for $4.45 per device, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff instead ordered Nintendo to pay 1.82 percent of the wholesale price for each 3DS sold. Judge Rakoff explained the percentage rate would take into consideration future markdowns in 3DS sale prices. On top of the percentage, Nintendo will pay Tomita $241,231 for damages and prejudgment interest.
A jury previously awarded Tomita $30.2 million, but Judge Rakoff overruled it on the basis that, while sales of games have been strong, the 3DS itself has not been profitable. Furthermore, the judge felt the jury had put too much weight on the system’s game revenue, which was ruled unfair as the technology in question that Tomita developed, the 3D twin camera, is not widely used in games.
Tomita opened the lawsuit against Nintendo in 2011, after Nintendo released the 3DS without crediting his company for the use of the 3D camera. Tomita had previously met with Nintendo and presented his invention to the company before the system released and was declined. The initial trial ended on March 13, when jurors ruled in favor of Tomita.
The final ruling was reached in December, but it is unknown whether either company will seek to appeal the decision. In August, Charlie Scibetta, a spokesman for Nintendo, said in a statement, "Nintendo will appeal the jury's verdict and reduced damages award to the court of appeals."
I guess this means there will be no 3d in the next Nintendo handheld?
Too bad. I always use 3d.
I loveWho are you and where is real Ian Sane?
It seems oddly fitting that Nintendo would get sued over a non-essential gimmick feature that no one cares about. Maybe it will encourage them to be more straightforward in the future. No one can sue them for joysticks, d-pads and buttons or just beefing up the existing specs.How is that fitting at all? All three hardware manufacturers include non-essential **** in their devices. It's extremely unfair and silly that you continually act like Nintendo is only company doing this when, in fact, they offer the least amount of non-essential extras.
Is it required to complete any games? Could Nintendo get away with just removing it from future 3DS revisions?Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is built entirely around the 3D cameras. Swapnote wasn't really a game, but you could send photos with it until perverts decided that we can't have nice things.
And I suppose Nintendo could remove the cameras, but I'd rather they not. I don't even use them; I simply don't think there's harm in them being there.
It had happened. Later PS2 variations didn't support the hard drive and the Wii Mini doesn't even let you go online. And Nintendo just recently released a variation of the 3DS without 3D.I didn't say it hasn't happened. Clearly, it has. People get upset when it has hence "Sure, that's worked out exceptionally well in the past." Still, I was mainly referring to removing features from a successor (like backwards compatibility). That's when people seem loudest with voicing their displeasure. Or when a company retroactively removes/disables functionality from existing hardware rather than simply excluding it from new models. How many PS3 owners even installed Linux? I think people were outraged mostly out of principle.
Are there 3D cameras on the 2DS?It has two cameras on the back so I think so. It just can't display the pictures in 3D. 2DS was designed before Nintendo shutdown Swapnote so the functionality there is even less useful.
Swapnote wasn't really a game, but you could send photos with it untilpervertsNintendo decided that we can't have nice things.
