Nintendo Confirms Wii Successor For 2012

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Rumors have been coming hard and fast of a Wii successor, and now Nintendo has publicly acknowledged its existence. A fiscal report by the company included a note that their next home console will release in 2012 with a public revelation at E3 2011.

This comes at a time when the company’s operating income dropped over 50 percent and their net income dropped two-thirds for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. The Wii was blamed for the company’s fiscal woes, selling 15.1 million or a 25 percent drop over the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the 3DS saw hardware sales of 3.61 million units, slightly below the company’s original forecast of 4 million.

Billboards Make Times Square Green

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New York saw one of the biggest pushes during Earth Day, including 1,000 free rain barrels given out for local residents and a clean energy vehicle parade. With images of trees sprouting up on Times Square billboards Earth Day New York’s managing director Joanne Black called it a “a visual call to action.”

Large screens also displayed the number of people who text message “tree” to 85944, pledging $5 for the United Nations’ Year of Forest. The tally was sponsored by companies like CNN, MTV, Reuters and Toshiba, with funding helping to plant trees in Mexico, Kenya, India and the Philippines.

“It’s rare for so many companies to give up their screens,” noted Black. “For this, they have.”

“We hope to engage a broad segment of the public and show that even a small contribution can really make a difference,” said Earth Day New York Executive Director Pamela Lippe.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced plans to make the city cleaner, such as by using cleaner fuels instead of heating oils. Estimates say that a 10 percent reduction in heating oil pollution could prevent 300 deaths, 200 hospital admissions and 600 emergency department visits from airborne pollution each year.

Source: Reuters

iPhone 4S Reportedly Targeting Game Developers

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Reports are that Apple is looking to include the A5 Chip in the next version of the iPhone. Already in the iPad 2, the chip is said to deliver nine times the gaming performance of the A4.

“Apple isn t taking the next iPhone s A5-power lightly,” writes Mark Gurman. “They already have select developers working on versions of their iPhone applications that take full advantage of the next-generation iPhone s speedier and much more powerful hardware. These developers, seemingly from high-level gaming outfits, have been given what is essentially an iPhone 4 but with an A5 processor instead of an A4. The device itself is virtually identical to the iPhone 4, and there is no way anyone can tell it s not an iPhone 4 based on the phone s exterior.”

Source: 9 to 5 Mac

PlayStation Plus Discount Offered Through May 3

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Sony has announced that they are offering a discount to to PSN users who want to get on board with PlayStation Plus. The offer for three-free months is similar to the agreement they offered when the service originally launched.

“Don’t forget, if you haven t signed up to a year membership then now is definitely the time. Everyone can benefit from the limited offer of 15 months for the price of 12 until the May 3,” wrote James Thorpe, “PlayStation Network product manager. Even if you have a membership already, you can stack another one on top and the 15 months will roll on when your current subscription ends.”

Source: PlayStation Blog

Lady Gaga And Zynga Said To Team Up For Album Promotion

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Zynga and Lady Gaga are reportedly discussing a way to promote the singer’s new album to the social gaming company’s 250 million active users. It is unknown if this will take the form of an original game or just an in-game promotion.

Lady Gaga and Zynga previously paired up for a charity campaign for Save the Children and the American Red Cross, which brought in $3 million. The pop star’s new album titled Born This Way will release on May 23.

Source: Wall Street Journal

See African Cats And Help Save The Savanna

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Pledge to save the Savanna at the official website for Disney’s African Cats or on the Disneynature Facebook page by clicking on the Save the Savanna app. Fans are directed to an official portal destination at eventful.com and prompted to buy a ticket opening weekend to see the film. Each fan that buys a ticket will also be making a pledge to help save the homeland of animals that occupy and need this large open space for hunting with a plentiful supply of prey, trees, shelter and protected areas among rocks and shrubs to raise their young. With each ticket purchase of a ticket before April 28, Disneynature will make a donation of $0.20 per ticket (with a minimum of $100,000 pledged to this program) to the African Wildlife Foundation for the Amboseli ecosystem stretches between Mt. Kilimanjaro, Chyulu Hills and Tsavo West National Parks in Kenya. At press time, 346,140 people have already made the pledge and 11,561 acres of land have been preserved.

Join S.H.I.E.L.D. And Become An Elite Agent

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Making its viral debut at C2E2, a comic and entertainment event held in Chicago, JoinShield.com {link no longer active} is a destination website experience that allows users to login, create a profile and become an agent of the ultra-elite global security taskforce S.H.I.E.L.D. In a partnership with Acura, each new recruit of S.H.I.E.L.D. must choose a specially modified weapon and a modified Acura car as their preferred means of travel. Each of the three cars featured (TL, MDX, ZDX) all include a specifications video showing off each car in action. Each new agent is given a dossier of videos, images and information to analyze to complete a task to gain greater security clearance. Completion of simple engagements not only result in a higher rank but unlock access to more classified images, videos, and documents and tasks to complete. After each engagement, an Acura ad will appear reigniting the campaign. Tasks include pinpointing a disturbance, testing avoidance skills, lock picking and testing your lie detecting skills.