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    Nintendo eyeing filmmaking for growth after Mariners sale 

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1530 Views
    In this March 20, 2016 file photo, a shopper on an escalator passes by the Nintendo logo at an electronics store in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

    By Yuri Kageyama, Business Writer

    TOKYO (AP) --

    Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. is eyeing the movie business for growth.

    Company spokesman Makoto Wakae said Monday details are undecided but the work might be a theater release or a DVD.

    Nintendo, which makes the Wii U home console and Nintendo 3DS hand-held machine, has licensed its game characters in the past, such as with its Pokemon movies, but it is now thinking about make its own film content.

    It won't become a full-fledged film studio, but filmmaking is an area it has chosen for future investment of proceeds from selling its stake in the major league Seattle Mariners, planned for later this year, according to Kyoto-based Nintendo.

    The Japanese daily newspaper Asahi reported Monday that Nintendo's work might be 3-D animation. It said Nintendo is in talks with various film companies on a possible partnership.

    Wakae said an announcement will be made, but even the details of the Mariners sale have not yet been announced.

    Nintendo has seen its growth stagnate in recent eyes amid competition from smartphones and other devices, and films could revive interest in its franchise, which also includes The Legend of Zelda.

    Nintendo reported a 24 billion yen ($216 million) loss for January-March, bigger than the loss it reported the previous year. For the fiscal year ended March 31, it earned 16.5 billion yen ($148 million), down 61 percent from the previous fiscal year.

    Recent Wii U sales have lagged rivals Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 4 console and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One, including the key year-end holiday shopping season.

    After years of scoffing at the threat from smartphones, Nintendo did an about face last year and entered an alliance with Japanese mobile game company DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices.

    It has also said its new game platform codenamed NX will be launched globally in March next year.

    In April, Nintendo of America said it's selling its majority stake in the Seattle Mariners to a group of minority owners led by new chairman and CEO John Stanton.

    Nintendo is selling all but 10 percent of its stake in the franchise and the regional sports network ROOT Sports. The deal is subject to approval by Major League Baseball, expected during league meetings in August.

    Tags:Nintendo



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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