Nintendo 3DS has extra controller-button device

Tokyo: Nintendo's add-on button device for its 3DS video game machine is facing criticism as a possible design flaw and a detraction for the already struggling portable.

Some critics say Nintendo Co. is embarrassed about the 1,500 yen ($20) "slide pad," noting President Satoru Iwata didn't mention a word about the gadget at his presentation earlier this week.

The device, which goes on sale in Japan on December 10, works as another controller. It's handy to have for more complex games from outside software makers like theMonster Hunter series from Capcom Co., set to go on sale in Japan on the same day.

Five other games, including Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D from Konami Corp., also can use the extra device. More games may be added to the list.

Nintendo, the Japanese manufacturer of the Wii home console and Super Mario andPokemon games, says the peripheral part isn't necessary, just a matter of preference.

Adding it helps deliver a gaming experience more similar to a home console in remote-controlling.

Hiroshi Kamide, analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., believes Nintendo is displaying a surprising lack of confidence.

"It's a bit of a shame. Only six months after releasing a new platform they're having to come out with an attachment to make it more attractive for some people," he said.

Game fans were disappointed.

The part, although not massive, makes 3DS bulky and harder to carry around in your pocket, important for a portable.

No wonder the device was quietly introduced on the company website this week.

Iwata said nothing about the device during his presentation, although he delivered praise about the upcoming "Monster Hunter" and other games to a packed crowd at a Tokyo event.

The device has also been witnessed, but not displayed prominently, at the Capcom booth at the Tokyo Game Show exhibition, which previewed to media Thursday and opens to the public this weekend.

"I think it feels like too little too late, and it also confuses consumers," Jean Snow, a gaming expert, who writes about Japanese pop culture. "I do believe it was a design flaw not to include it."

Snow said having the additional controller makes a big difference in shooting games, and he expects the feature to be later included in a 3DS upgrade.

Competition in portable gaming is heating up with the arrival of Japanese rival Sony Corp.'s latest portable offering, PlayStation Vita, which already comes with buttons that work in a similar way as the 3DS new device.

PlayStation Vita goes on sale in Japan on Dec. 17, and early next year in the US and Europe.

Both 3DS and PlayStation Vita face a threat from smartphones and tablet devices that also offer on-the-go games and other entertainment.

Nintendo has already slashed the price of the 3DS in a move analysts say is a sure sign it's worried about wooing consumers.

Kamide says Nintendo is likely to fall short of its sales target of 16 million 3DS by the end of the fiscal year through March 2012.

So far, Nintendo has sold just 4.32 million 3DS machines around the world.

Nintendo has ruled in portable gaming for years. It sold nearly 150 million DS machines since they went on sale in 2004, outpacing the Sony PlayStation Portable, whose cumulative global sales total 71 million.

But the gaming industry may be rapidly changing.

"It's a bit of a hard sell," Kamide said of the 3DS attachment.

US suspects ISI behind Kabul Embassy attack: report

Washington: US suspects that Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI could be behind the attack on its Embassy in Kabul this week and is looking for direct evidence in this regard.

A senior US defence official said that given the ISI's history of supporting and sheltering the Haqqanis, it was "almost reflexive" to see if the spy agency had any role in the latest Kabul violence that left 27 people dead.

"The possibility of ISI involvement was already being considered within hours of the attack's conclusion when President Barack Obama's National Security Council met Wednesday, said a US official," The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The American suspicions are being partly fuelled by growing concerns that deteriorating bilateral relations, and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, may be pushing elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency to more closely embrace the Haqqani network, the Taliban faction blamed for this week's violence and a spate of attacks in and around Kabul.

Neither the ISI nor the Pakistani military, of which the spy agency is part, immediately responded to the US suspicions, the WSJ said, adding that Pakistani government officials dismissed the suspicions as insulting and unfair.

Top US officials, including Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, have already blamed the violence in Kabul on the Haqqani network, an Afghan insurgent faction whose history is intertwined with the ISI. The Pakistani spy agency has aided Haqqani network attacks in Kabul in past years, officials say.

The US has warned the Pakistanis of stronger action if the group wasn't reined in.

Afghan officials say mobile phones found on the slain attackers in this week's commando-style raid in Kabul indicate they were in contact with people from "outside Afghanistan" a typical Afghan way of indirectly pointing to Pakistan.

Even so, US and Afghan officials have stopped short of publicly linking the attack to the ISI, as they did after past attacks in Kabul, such as the 2008 and 2009 bombings of the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

In those and other cases, US officials said that communications intercepts and other intelligence directly linked the ISI to the attacks. Yet it took months to reach that conclusion and publicise it.

What is different this time is the speed with which some US officials publicly said they were exploring ISI links, a sign of the growing frustration of US officials who in recent months have become more public in their finger-pointing at Pakistan for its coordination with Islamist militant groups.

According to the daily, a senior US defence official said there is currently no "actionable intelligence" linking Pakistan's spy service to this week's attack.

"But we're looking for it closely," the defence official said shortly after the violence ended," the official was quoted as saying.

"That illustrates the deep vein of mistrust now running through the relationship between Washington and Islamabad," the officials said.

"The level of patience has just gone out the window," Seth Jones, a political scientist at the Rand Corp, who has spent much of the past two years working with the US military in Afghanistan, was quoted as saying.

"People aren't keeping it inside anymore and containing it in a circle that, for a while, was just private," he said.

"US officials say they are looking for evidence that directly links elements of Pakistan's powerful spy agency to this week's assault on the US Embassy and coalition headquarters in Kabul, a sign of just how rancorous relations have become between the two allies in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban," the daily said.

A direct attack on an American embassy "isn't something we can treat as business-as-usual," said the US defense official.

Even if no ISI link is found, the Pakistani relationship with the Haqqanis is "long past unacceptable," the official said.

"Missteps by both the US and Pakistan this year have led to a sharp deterioration in relations, which may also be prompting Islamabad to more closely embrace militant groups from which it has sought to publicly distance itself in recent years, according to US officials and Mr Jones of Rand," the daily said.

'Banned' Aamer pleads guilty to spot-fixing

NEW DELHI: Tainted Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Aamer has pleaded guilty to spot-fixing in a London court.

The International Cricket Council ( ICC) had previously banned Aamer from all forms of cricket for a period of five years.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2010, British tabloid 'News of the World' accused then-captain Salman Butt, fast-bowler Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer of spot-fixing.

'News of the World' alleged they bowled no-balls at pre-arranged times during August's fourth Test at Lord's.

The alleged bookie Mazhar Majeed has also confessed to spot-fixing during the hearing in a London court.

Sizzling Wilson grabs a share of BMW lead with Rose

Lemont (Illinois): After making a brilliant start to the PGA Tour season, Mark Wilson set himself up for a big finish by firing a five-under-par 66 to share the second round lead with Justin Rose at the BMW Championship on Friday.

Rose, two strokes clear overnight, had looked poised to reach the midway point sitting alone atop the leaderboard after rolling in a 32-foot eagle putt at the 15th followed by a birdie at the 16th.

However, the Briton stumbled with a bogey at the last to card a three-under 68 and join American Wilson at 11-under 131 -- two shots ahead of FedExCup leader Webb Simpson, who also signed off with a 68.

"You never quite know what to expect after playing so well in the first round," Rose told reporters. "I`ve taken the chances when the golf course has presented them to me."

With only the top 30 in the FedExCup standings after Sunday`s final round qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, where a $10 million bonus will go to the overall points leader, there was no shortage of drama on a chilly overcast day at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club.

Having lived in Chicago and called Cog Hill his home club for several years, Wilson`s name was a popular one atop the leaderboard.

The American made a dubious start with a bogey at the first but it would be his only miscue of the day as he got back to level par with a birdie at the fifth before racing up the leaderboard with four straight birdies from the eighth.

He added another birdie at the 15th to cap a solid round and bring back memories of his sizzling early season form that saw him win twice in his first three starts.

Following that blistering start to his campaign, the middle part of the season was not nearly as good, particularly at the big events with Wilson missing the cut at the Masters, the Players Championship and U.S. Open.

However, he looked primed for a big finish at Cog Hill and has even drawn speculation about the possibility of being in contention for PGA Tour player of the year honours should he win again this week.

"That would put me with the most wins of anybody (this year) and then going into East Lake, if I can get another one there, I think I would have a good argument," said Wilson.

"But that`s a lot of ifs. The game is fickle, you never know. There are a lot of good players out there but I feel like I am playing very close to the same form I had when I started the year."

While Wilson, lying 17th in the FedExCup standings coming into this week, can look confidently ahead to the season finale in Atlanta, Rose still has work ahead of him if he is to book a ticket to East Lake.

Sitting just outside the top 30 in 34th place this week, Rose arrived in Chicago with a do-or-die attitude that has carried him to the top of the leaderboard.

Red-hot Simpson, who has triumphed twice in his last three starts, has showed no signs of cooling off in chilly Chicago and was just two off the pace with Australian John Senden (66) a further stroke further back at eight-under 134.

British world number one Luke Donald, fourth in the standings, recovered from an opening 75 to card a five-under 66 and move within striking distance of the leaders at one under.

Injury played huge part in England debacle: Dhoni

Cardiff: India suffered a humiliating whitewash in both Test and One-Day series in their disastrous England tour but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that injury to several key team members played a huge part in the debacle.

"I have not seen so many injuries in the last five years. To see 9-11 players get injured in one series has been shocking. In the ODI series we also did not have luck," he said at the press conference after India lost the fifth and final ODI by six wickets here.

"If you look at the first two Tests, we were left with three bowlers. If your bowling starts looking weak, the pressure piles up on batsmen. You cannot carry a team consistently on just one department.”

"If Zaheer was there in the first Test and we could have pressed advantage in the second innings instead of relying on part-timers. It could have looked different. But it`s important what we did. There is no point in sulking," Dhoni said.

Dhoni, however, said that his side would not be thinking for revenge when England tour India next month to play five one-day matches.

"You should not have such a feeling. If you have revenge in your mind, you become desperate and start putting pressure on the whole side. It`s better to stick to basics," he said.

"We also would have to see how many of the 9-11 players who are injured are now fit and have played some matches. We have to see who all are available for selection."

Asked if he thought injured players should straightaway be allowed to get back into the side without having a few matches under their belt, he said, "It`s tough. We have to exactly see what kind of injury it is.

"It is good if someone has some matches under his belt. But it`s difficult because you need experience in a line-up. You try to balance it. You don’t want your bowling department to look completely fresh."

Dhoni blamed the conditions and injury to Munaf Patel as the reason for India`s six-wicket defeat in the fifth and final match here.

"To have Munaf injured after four overs, broke the rhythm of our bowling. The ball was also getting very wet. This was the fifth time we lost the toss and it became very difficult for spinners," he reasoned.

The Indian captain underlined the point that the practice games should not be an official fixture where only 11 players can play. Flexibility with numbers of players who can play is important for practice games.

"We were not able to use practice games in best possible manner. The first game was official and we could not play more than 11 players. Just before a Test match, the players had to be on the field for 90 overs. The second practice game was the same," he said.

"We will make sure there is an MoU in place that practice games should be just practice games. You should be able to play more than 12 players. If I am asked to play an official game, I would prefer playing a Test match than these practice games," he added.

Dhoni held a high view of the present England side but was not prepared to concede they were the current best side in the world.

"England are a very good side, irrespective of the format they are playing. As they play more and more cricket, they would get only better. But it`s difficult to say if they are the best side. The top 3-4 sides are all good. They are among the best sides.”

"In sub-continent, it might be different but they can still get the reverse swing to control the batsmen. England`s batting line up also looks settled. Broad and Bresnan can not only bowl fast and quick but they can also bat which means England bats very deep," he said.

Despite playing without a break for a long time, Dhoni gave the hint that he could be turning out in the Champions League Twenty20 rather than take a break.

"There are four games to be played at the league stage in 10 days. We will see how I stand before the start of the Champions League Twenty20. Next 3-4 days will be complete rest. Our first game is on 24th. I am hoping my fitness does not get worse."

Asked about the Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Aamir admitting to spot-fixing, Dhoni said, "It`s something seriously wrong. People might talk about forgiveness but for me match-fixing and spot-fixing is going against the nation. It`s my personal view."

PTI