Good observation. Famitsu reports sales in retail stores, so the chart includes GKCs, code-in-box titles, and even download cards. Capcom’s financial reporting categorizes GKC sales as digital, but they didn’t explain why. I guess it’s bc they pay the eShop commission like a regular digital game.
Agreed that the mismatch is aesthetically unpleasing. My guess is that they want people to be able to distinguish them just by touching (without looking down, thus breaking gameplay).
System UI mockup 2 from the following NCL Careers page: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/jobs/keyword/171.html
The second design is a bigger departure. The main differences from the final UI:
• System apps at the upper left
• Games in a grid with vertical scrolling (5 per row)
• Chat icon and user list along the right edge
• Time, network status, and battery level at the bottom left
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System UI mockup 1 from the following NCL Careers page: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/jobs/keyword/171.html
Let’s have a closer look at the just-released (see last post) System UI mockups during the GameChat development.
The first design is quite similar to the current System UI. The main differences:
• A floating chat icon along the left edge
• Smaller title images to show more games (6 in a row)
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I suspect that the public rebuttal from Nintendo in 2021 regarding his report of OLED model margin and the existence of Pro model really bruised his ego. A second corporate communication in 2025 to refute his Switch 2 retailer margin report only deepened the feud.
20 different icon design ideas
Why “C”?
Clear and comprehensible
Association with chat/communication/conversation
Easy to pronounce
Concise description in UI
Congruent with A/B buttons
P.S.: It would’ve been disastrous to place the C button to the right of Home button, as shown in the GIF mockup above.
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Nintendo Japan’s Careers site publishes a new page about the UI/UX design of GameChat button: www.nintendo.co.jp/jobs/keyword...
Why a dedicated button?
Stress-free single action to start chatting anytime
What are the considerations?
Button size, placement, tactile feel, and icon
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Drawing from patent US 20260061318: FIG. 3C illustrates the control of the player character in the first mode of the embodiment
Drawing from patent US 20260061318: FIG. 5C illustrates the control of player characters and vehicle objects in the second mode of the embodiment
Drawing from patent US20260061318: FIG. 4B is a transition diagram illustrating the transition from the first mode to the second mode of the embodiment
Drawing from patent US20260061318: FIG. 6B is a transition diagram illustrating the transition from the second mode to the first mode of the embodiment
A Metroid Prime 4 patent by the Retro Studios staff details how camera operation differs when on foot (1st person; img 1) vs. on a bike (3rd person; img 2), and how to transition between them without disorienting the player (imgs 3-4). More info here:
worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/searc...
Product photo of Pokopia’s Peakychu LED light
The Peakychu LED light, Pokopia holographic stickers, and Pokopia beginner’s guidebook are sold out on the Japanese Pokemon Center Online in just one day. A new goldmine appeared!
Would any journalists *please* ask Nintendo whether they classify Game Key Card sales as physical or digital? For Capcom they are digital, but Nintendo never specify this themselves. Since the company doesn’t report digital-only sales, it’d leave a huge hole in the data if GKC’s counted as digital.
That’s a good point. It’s quite possible in the western markets. In Japan I don’t know if GKC has the same migrating effect; domestic consumers have been buying download/upgrade cards in convenience stores, so the physical-digital dichotomy seems more blurred over there.
Screenshot of top 2 search results on Amazon US for “1tb microsd express”
Screenshot of top 2 search results on Amazon US for “ps5 ssd with heatsink”
To substantiate his story, Mochizuki interviewed a single “gamer” in the whole of Tokyo to back him up by claiming that PS5/PC storage upgrades “cost about half as much”. The top 2 search results on Amazon (as of today; imgs 1-2) easily disprove that.
There are forum posts better researched.
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…
- NS2 upgrade packs are not reported
- NS2 owners may buy NS1 games
In the article he also keeps up the drumbeat of “pressure” on Nintendo’s margin, even though he’s been praising Sony G&NS’s anemic 8.73% margin and *still* loss-making console: ninpatentswatch.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/p...
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Screenshot of Takashi Mochizuki post on X: NEW: Nintendo Switch 2 sees strong hardware sales, but software is struggling. Rising NAND prices are driving up storage costs, and with ballooning game sizes and backward compatibility, concerns growing that new titles will face even tougher sales ahead. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-05/nintendo-switch-2-users-face-storage-woes-as-memory-crisis-bites
Image clip from Nintendo’s Q3 Financial Results Explanatory Material: FY26/Q1-Q3 Hardware Total 1,737 Software Total 3,793 (units in ten thousands)
Mochizuki persists with this narrative of “struggling” NS2 software sales (img 1). He asserts NS2’s attachment rate being 2.18 by simply dividing the Q3 sell-in numbers (3793/1737=2.18; img 2), even though:
- Digital NS2 “Edition” sales are counted as NS1
- Digital only games are not reported
…
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Drawing from patent JP 2025151712: 【図１】ゲームシステムの構成例を示す側面図。
Drawing from patent JP 2025151712: 【図２】装着状態のバトル用具を正面向かって右から見た右側面図。
Drawing from patent JP 2025151712: 【図６】残ＨＰインジケータの表示例を示す図。
Drawing from patent JP 2025151712: 【図７】打撃の成功判定（ヒット判定）について説明するための図。
Speaking of Bandai Namco Amusement Lab, they’re patenting an exoskeleton for fighting game in Japan. Sick and mad (complimentary): www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/PU/JP-...
While fun to speculate that the R&D may be for a Gundam arcade game, I think it’s more likely for BN’s VS Park facility.
The extent of BN Amusement Lab’s involvement isn’t clear. However, the patent filings for Zapper & Scope, and Love Tester only listed Nintendo employees as inventors, therefore they likely played a support studio role.
Source: lab.bandainamco-am.co.jp/works.html
Screenshot of Bandai Namco Amusement Lab website: 「ニンテンドーミュージアムの体験展示」 ソフト・ハード一体のアソビ開発ができる弊社の強みを活かして、任天堂株式会社の施設「ニンテンドーミュージアム」の体験展示、「しぐれでんSP」、「ザッパー＆スコープSP」、「ラブテスターSP」、「ビッグコントローラー（遊覧飛行・アイスクリームチャレンジ・コロコロ玉入れ）」のソフト開発と、「ザッパー＆スコープSP」、「ラブテスターSP」のガンコントローラーや体験マシンなどのハード開発を担当しました。
I don’t recall this being reported? It appears that Bandai Namco Amusement Lab worked on some Nintendo Museum exhibits. Possibly due to NDA, the only disclosure is that they developed:
Software of Shigureden, Zapper & Scope, Love Tester, Big Controller
Hardware of Zapper & Scope, Love Tester
Absolutely will buy Woodo on Switch 2. @juliaprokhorova.bsky.social: Will Woodo support dual mouse inputs? I don’t think it needs a full-fledged co-op mode, just simple asymmetrical co-op so that an adult (full control) can play with a child (limited control).
It depends on what makes more economic sense to buy or license. For example, Nintendo or Sony could reach an agreement with Alps to assemble the sticks in a Foxconn factory that they contract with.
Other stick makers can also invent their own capacitive sticks, as long as they are different enough.
Teardowns show that Joy-Con 2 and Pro Controller 2 still use potentiometer sticks. There’s a Alps Alpine patent that looks like (but I can’t confirm) the NS2 stick, which describes a new design that is drift resistant.
… This creates a change in electrical capacitance, which is measured as user input.
The design not only is more durable than the potentiometer stick, but also simpler and cheaper than the Hall Effect and TMR sticks. Definitely one to watch for the future.
patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/de...
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Drawing from patent US 20260036442: FIG. 10 is a three-dimensional view of an example of the partial structure of the input device according to the present disclosure.
Drawing from patent US 20260036442: FIG. 2E is an exploded three-dimensional view of the rotation detection device of the input device according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure
Drawing from patent US20260036442: FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of an example of the circuit connection structure of the rotation detection device of the input device according to the present disclosure
Drawing from patent US20260036442: FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of an example of the shape of the sensor electrode and the movable plate of the rotation detection device of the input device according to the present disclosure
Alps Alpine (analog stick supplier for Nintendo, Sony, and many others) is patenting a new type of stick—using capacitive sensing to detect motions.
In the sensor unit (#30 in img 1), a bowtie-shaped rotor (#34 in imgs 2-3) rotates between two electrodes (#32-33) when the stick moves (img 4). …
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The simulations in the paper were done on a Ryzen 9 CPU, and not intended for real-time rendering as you observed. At the end of paper the authors expressed their interested in using “GPU acceleration for real-time applications”, but I don’t know if they actually figured out how to use it in a game.
That’s the name of the Mario themed area within the Lantern Festival. Judging from the photos, it’s filled with star shaped lights and lanterns.
Taiwan Lantern Festival fairgrounds photo: Mario statue and two arches in day time Source: https://udn.com/news/story/7270/9355491
Taiwan Lantern Festival fairgrounds photo: Lighting display with standees of Rosalina, Peach, Daisy, and two toads in night time Source: https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20260302003724-260405
Taiwan Lantern Festival fairgrounds photo: Mario statue, and a lighting display with eight Yoshi standees in night time Source: https://www.vogue.com.tw/special/2026-%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E7%87%88%E6%9C%83-%E5%98%89%E7%BE%A9
Taiwan Lantern Festival photo: Lit-up ? Block lantern projecting a Super Star Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MOD3SnqSfE
The annual Taiwan Lantern Festival opens on March 3 this year. Continuing their expansion in Southeast Asia, Nintendo sponsors a dedicated area in the fairgrounds (imgs 1-3), including a 10m (33ft) tall Mario statue. Visitors receive a free ? Block lantern that projects a Super Star (img 4).
And it was merely four days ago that Matthew Ball told us that Nintendo would raise the NSO prices. Excellent comedic timing.
bsky.app/profile/ninp...
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All tiers of NSO subscription will get a price drop in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico (and possibly other LATAM markets) starting from April, as confirmed by Necro Felipe. Hmm, I wonder why no English media were interested in reporting this. 🤔
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Owner of MinnMax. From the videos I encountered, most of their hosts seem fine, but Hanson likes to give some hot takes at times.
From I can gather now (didn’t follow the site myself), it was a news site mainly focusing on FF14. Its anonymous comment section could be rather, er, colorful. Allegedly they ran some unflattering posts about the FF14 staff, and SE considers these attacks on individuals.
HD Rumble 2 motor, interior photo Source: TechanaLye
HD Rumble 2 motor, exterior photo (top angle) Source: 4Gamer
HD Rumble 2 motor, exterior photo (45° side angle) Source: Kasynparts
Note that the description in the Alps Alpine application aren’t exactly identical to the end product. There are 2 coils instead of 3, and 4 four-pole magnets instead of 2 eight-pole magnets. (image sources in alt text)
www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/PU/JP-...
patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/de...
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