Nintendo Switch 2 smashes record as company's fastest-selling console
A customers holds his Nintendo Switch 2 game consoles as Nintendo starts selling the new consoles globally, at an electronics store in Tokyo on June 5. (REUTERS)
Japan's Nintendo said on Wednesday it had sold more than 3.5 million Switch 2 units in the first four days after its launch, making the console the company's fastest-selling gaming device to date.
Last month, the Kyoto-based company forecast Switch 2 sales would reach 15 million during the current financial year ending next March.
'Fans around the world are showing their enthusiasm for Nintendo Switch 2 as an upgraded way to play at home and on the go,' Nintendo of America President and Chief Operating Officer Doug Bowser said in a statement.
Nintendo has sold 152 million Switch devices since it was first launched in 2017, creating a games juggernaut with titles including 'The Legend of Zelda' and COVID-19 pandemic breakout hit 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons.'
The more powerful second-generation version, which went on sale on June 5, bears many similarities with its predecessor but offers a larger screen and improved graphics. It is sold with titles including 'Mario Kart World.'
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Yomiuri Shimbun
10 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Disney and Universal Sue AI Firm Midjourney for Copyright Infringement
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SoraNews24
14 hours ago
- SoraNews24
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We taste-test the entire lineup of joy-inducing summertime blue-green sweets. We're at a special spot in Japan's seasonal sweets schedule right now: mint chocolate season. Unlike some supply-triggered flavors, like the abundance of sweet potato confectionaries in the fall, mint chocolate season is a demand-driven phenomena, as cravings for sweet treats overlap with the appeal of refreshingly cooling sensations (hence the mint) during Japan's hot and humid summer. Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart has gotten into the spirit of the season in a big way, releasing more than a baker's dozen of new mint chocolate sweets this week, which we, as dedicated dessert journalists, taste-tested ASAP. 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Fruit sandwiches, in which sliced fruit and whipped cream are used as sandwich fillings, are already a thing in Japan, so Family Mart has simply ditched the fruit to make room for more cream with mint and chocolate mixed in. Since they're using soft pieces of white bread with the crusts sliced off, there's no wheaty bitterness to get in the way, but with bread also being less sweet than cake, there's no other-source sugariness to obscure the pure deliciousness of the mint and chocolate, and Yayoi wholeheartedly recommends this dessert sandwich to all fellow members of the Mint Chococratic Party. The entire lineup is on sale at Family Mart now as part of the chain's Mint Chocolate Fair for an unspecified limited time, so you totally have our blessing to buy each and every one of them in a single shopping run like we did. Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! [ Read in Japanese ]
Japan Today
18 hours ago
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Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement
FILE - A Darth Vader costumed character poses at the Hasbro and Amazon Star Wars interactive Imperial March experience at the Empire State Building on Thursday, March 21, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, file) By SHAWN CHEN and MATT O'BRIEN Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute 'endless unauthorized copies' of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as 'kind of like a search engine' pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. 'Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?' Holz said. 'Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine.' The Recording Industry Association of America, which is engaged in its own legal battles against generative AI companies, came out in support of Disney and Universal's lawsuit. 'This action by Disney and Universal represents a critical stand for human creativity and responsible innovation,' RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier said in a statement. But the music industry representative did point out that there are paths forward through partnerships that can advance both sectors. Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the 'fair use' doctrine of American copyright law. The studio' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms — such as OpenAI, Anthropic — in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
