On the other hand, in addition to the first-party titles, it is also important to offer strong third-party software titles.
Recently, third-party software developers overseas have had fewer of their best development studios develop software for handheld devices. However, for this year, the release of several key titles has already been announced, and I have also heard there are more unannounced titles to come.
Also, as I mentioned on another occasion, we plan to more actively support the Japanese software developers in distributing their key titles overseas.
To be more specific,

as of today, such third-party titles as shown on this slide have already been announced that they will be sold in the overseas markets, and I’ve also heard that our third parties are planning to launch other software titles that they have not announced yet. With these titles in the lineup, I think that, although much later than in Japan, the overseas markets are finally ready for Nintendo 3DS to get on an ideal sales track.

On the other hand, the argument continues overseas that "with the growing popularity of smart devices, Nintendo 3DS cannot penetrate the market significantly," just as had been said in Japan before "Animal Crossing: New Leaf" penetrated the market at an explosive rate. Also, I believe that at the beginning of the year, some had the view that "since Nintendo 3DS did not sell at an explosive rate at the end of last year, Nintendo 3DS has already peaked out in the Western markets."

However, as this year’s lineup was revealed in the recent Nintendo Direct, the tone of the media gradually began to change.

I will provide only two U.S. articles, as I cannot show you all the examples here. The first one is from an article from a game media called Kotaku. While taking a look back at the recovery from the struggle at launch two years ago, this article states "The best video game systems are, quite simply, the systems that have the best games. In 2013, that’s the 3DS." This article has a tone that has not been heard for some time now. The same tone could be found in other articles as well.
The second example from USA Today last weekend after the announcement of the NPD data for March states that while hardware sales for March in the gaming industry were down 32% compared to the same time last year, "Nintendo’s 3DS, which faces increased competition from Sony’s PlayStation Vita and the smartphone and tablet market, seems to have gained momentum. Sales of the device were up 9%."

As for Europe, just last week, we launched "Fire Emblem: Awakening," and we just received the German and French software hit charts of last week.

This is the software hit chart from Germany for the 16th week of this year. "Fire Emblem: Awakening" and "Luigi’s Mansion 2" occupied the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, and a total of six Nintendo 3DS titles, including four other evergreen and new titles, are included in the top 20 chart.

This is the software sales chart from France for the same 16th week of the year. Just like in the German chart, the top two spots are occupied by "Fire Emblem: Awakening" and "Luigi’s Mansion 2." And, again like its German counterpart, four other titles are included. As you can see, with the launches of the key titles, Nintendo 3DS is starting to regain momentum.

Since this is the most current trend,

CVG, which is a British trade media group, reported earlier this week, "Nintendo has once again proven that it understands its own market much better than the doubters have," and "The 3DS success is driven by one of the hardest-hitting software line-ups Nintendo has produced in years." It is not uncommon for CVG to write severe articles about Nintendo, but since this article may indicate the changes in the general tone of the media, I hope those who are interested in this will access this link.(This link has been removed in March 2015.)

Currently, the overseas sales of Nintendo 3DS are still at a stage where the changes in the market are starting to emerge. We are aiming to make the momentum of Nintendo 3DS in the overseas markets more visible before summer this year.

Regarding Wii U, the release intervals of first-party key titles have been so much longer than we expected at the Corporate Management Policy Briefing in January that we have not successfully maintained the momentum of the platform. In addition, we have not been able to solidly communicate the product value of Wii U to our consumers yet, which has been a grand challenge for us.
Some have the misunderstanding that Wii U is just Wii with a pad for games, and others even consider Wii U GamePad as a peripheral device connectable to Wii. We feel deeply responsible for not having tried hard enough to have consumers understand the product.
Wii U might still have no such captivating game title as "Wii Sports" for Wii, with which people immediately comprehended its product value, but it surely has a lot of factors appreciated by users. We would like to take time to work thoroughly for its penetration, by making various efforts to have many people understand its product value as well as enriching the software lineup.

Wii U has lost momentum due to the release pace of first-party titles which has not lived up to consumers’ expectations. Starting with "Pikmin 3" scheduled for release in the upcoming July, however, we will intensively launch our key titles to give sales momentum to the platform.
As a decisive factor in buying a console is that you cannot play a much-anticipated title without the hardware, we will do our best to have you feel from this summer to the end of this year that there are plenty of great games for Wii U.
We have many titles whose release dates are yet to be announced. At E3, we will disclose more specific information about the titles for the rest of this year and early next year.

Miiverse has been received as one of the big features of Wii U. As we announced before, you will be able to view the content through your PC or smart device from today.
This is a web service on which you can experience Miiverse through your Internet browser. Currently, it is a beta version with content viewing only.
This web service will enable Wii U users to see the content of Miiverse on smartphones even outside the home. In addition, it will play an important role in having those who do not have Wii U understand the appeal of the platform through Miiverse. We would like to enrich the service incrementally.
We are also planning to make available a system update for Nintendo 3DS to allow its users to view and post content on Miiverse on the system within this year. This will facilitate user communication about Nintendo 3DS games and help users enjoy them more deeply. At the same time, the more people take advantage of Miiverse, the more deeply and correctly they will understand the charm of the other platform, Wii U.

And now, the next topic relates to Miiverse, but a significant expansion of our digital business is required to adapt to the changes in the business conditions and to create new business opportunities.