In June, there was talk of Nintendo of Europe laying off 130 full-time employees. An additional 190 staffers have since been confirmed to be receiving the same treatment. These people come from Nintendo’s Germany-based localization department by way of a leasing agency. Kotaku points out, “Though technically those 190 people were temporary employees, in practice, they all worked exclusively for Nintendo, and many of them had been working there for years”.
All of these layoffs combine to affect 320 employees. They will all be gone by August 31.
Nintendo said in a statement today:
As previously communicated in June 2014, approximately 130 permanent employees will be released by Nintendo of Europe (Germany) at the end of August 2014 as part of a set of measures to better enable the European business to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment.
As a separate measure, Nintendo of Europe is reorganizing its European Localization Development (ELD) department, where it currently uses a number of temporary agency workers in translation and testing activities, in order to increase flexibility and cost-efficiency in the long-term. It is intended that there will be an increase in outsourcing future translation and test activities to third-party companies on an as-needed basis, and very sadly this has meant having ended the contracts of 190 temporary agency workers, who were formally notified of this decision in June 2014.
Q: What kind of applications are pre-installed to the device?
A: The below applications will be included from the start.
- Health & Safety Information
- Nintendo 3DS Camera
- Nintendo 3DS Sound
- Mii Maker
- StreetPass Mii Plaza
- Nintendo eShop
- AR Games
- Face Raiders
- Activity Log
- Nintendo Zone
- Download Play
- System Settings
Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe are both out now on the North American 3DS eShop. The former game takes up 978 blocks of space. The other game, on the other hand, is only 470 blocks.
#Teslagrad for Wii U available September 11th. WOHOOO!!!
http://t.co/IaF4d456Hl
— Rain Games (@rain_games) August 29, 2014
The Internet browser in New 3DS systems come with a pre-installed filter which limits what websites can be visited. Users can immediately turn it off for 30 yen ($0.29) by registering a valid credit card.
Nintendo says that the filter will be used to “prevent children from looking at harmful websites” on the New 3DS. The fee, which goes hand in hand with credit card registration, is necessary so that children cannot disable the filter without their parents’ consent.
Nintendo Co., Ltd. will launch “New Nintendo 3DS” and “New Nintendo 3DS XL” on October 11, 2014 in Japan, at the suggested retail prices of 16,000 yen and 18,800 yen (prices not including consumption tax), respectively. The systems will be the newest members of the Nintendo 3DS family, the sales of which in Japan alone are estimated to already top 16 million units to date.
The new C-Stick, ZL button and ZR button, which will enhance the play controls of the existing Nintendo 3DS hardware, have been added, and the new “Super-Stable 3D” function will provide players with an even more comfortable 3D gaming experience. Furthermore, the new “NFC feature” will enable the use of the “amiibo™” on Nintendo 3DS.
As for “New Nintendo 3DS,” the LCD screens are bigger than those of the existing Nintendo 3DS, and the exterior design of the hardware can be customized simply by exchanging the “Cover Plates,” which will be sold separately.
As for the overseas markets, our local subsidiaries will separately confirm. However, there will be no U.S. and European launches this calendar year.
