When asked about the final name of the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata replied, “the final product name shall be announced in the not-so-far-away future.” OK, but the final name of Nintendo’s new hardware might actually be Nintendo 3DS, if trademarks filed in Japan are an indicator.

Nintendo registered Nintendo 3DS, N3DS, and two more curious terms – 3DSPlay and 3DSWare. The latter sounds like the Nintendo 3DS’ version of DSiWare, a downloadable game service Nintendo introduced with the Nintendo DSi. Perhaps the Nintendo 3DS is getting its own shop with downloadable games. 3DSPlay is quizzical. Could it be a WiiPlay equivalent?

 DS Sound, DS Name Card, DS Magazine, DSMovie, DSCamera, DSCinema, DSMessage, DSMusic, and DSAlbum are also newly added to Japan’s trademark database with Nintendo is the registrant. These could be services, but they are most likely protective trademarks. Nintendo registered “Manga no Ma” or Manga Room in Japan and never used that.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/05/17/nintendo-3ds-has-3dsware-and-3dsplay/

During their investor call earlier today, Ubisoft management were questioned regarding how significantly they felt 3D games like Avatar on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 would contribute to their revenue in the future. While the company refused to give revenue estimates, citing unpredictable factors such as the price of 3D TVs, they did confirm that 3D was an avenue they were interested in pursuing on consoles.

Not so mysteriously, they added: “Maybe also on portable machines.”
Ubisoft estimate that 15-20% of their console games will be 3D compatible by next year, and that the figure could rise to 50% the year after that.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/05/18/ubisoft-hint-at-nintendo-3ds-development/

A British sports star has become possibly the highest profile name ever to be jailed for the piracy of video games.
Gareth Raynor, a winger for rugby league team Crusaders, was sentenced to 15 months after being found guilty of selling counterfeit DS and Game Boy games, as well as fake ink cartridges, on auction site eBay.
Using the name ‘Genuine-Ink’, Raynor would import pirated cartridges from the East and then sell them on to UK buyers, advertising them as legitimate products. Over 1,500 transactions were found to have taken place between May 2007 and August 2008.
He pleased guilty to 14 charges of trademark infringement and fraudulent trading. He received nine months in jail for counterfeiting offences and an additional six for breaching the conditions of a prior offence.
“You were not saying that your product was cheap and shoddy when advertising them via eBay and as such any purchaser was buying based on trust,” Judge Roger Thorn ruled.

“You breached that trust. The buyers could not inspect the product until after the deal had been done. Thus both the buyer is a victim and also the producer of the product is the victim in loss of sales.”
ELSPA director general Michael Rawlinson added: “We would like to thank the efforts of East Riding of Yorkshire Council's trading standards service in their attempts to protect legitimate local traders and remove illegal products from the marketplace.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39026/Rugby-star-jailed-for-DS-eBay-scam

Leaked images and a filing made to the US Federal Communications Commission has indicated that Nintendo has begun tests on its new 3DS and that the console will come with one 3D widescreen display and one traditional 4:3 one.

A leaked image published by WirelessGoodness has shown a new console's circuitry, believed to be the 3DS, and clear indication that it will come with one widescreen display - Sharp's auto-stereoscopic 3D tech - and one traditional 4:3 screen.

Commenting on the image, Eurogamer blog Digital Foundry added that the most telling aspect of the leak could be the new hardware's codename, CTR.

Each of the DS revisions has been given a three-letter codename, it noted. The Nintendo DSi is referred to internally as TWL, while the DSi XL is known as UTL.

The use of CTR, which hasn't been used before, along with the new screen configuration would suggest a brand new kind of DS.

The filing for a "Nintendo CTR Target Board" was made in order to get the Wi-Fi card used by the system approved for use in the US.

Other features shown on the motherboard were standard stereo speakers, a slot for DS cartridges and the usual SD card port.

Nintendo has said that it will showcase its full plans for the new 3DS console, which will let users view 3D games without the need for special glasses, at this year's E3.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/report-nintendo-testing-3ds-dev-hardware