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Nintendo Hikes Switch Forecast as Hardware Release Expectations Rise 

This photo taken on January 12, 2024 shows a young customer looking at a display for Super Mario by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo, at an electronics store in Tokyo. (AFP)
This photo taken on January 12, 2024 shows a young customer looking at a display for Super Mario by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo, at an electronics store in Tokyo. (AFP)
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Nintendo Hikes Switch Forecast as Hardware Release Expectations Rise 

This photo taken on January 12, 2024 shows a young customer looking at a display for Super Mario by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo, at an electronics store in Tokyo. (AFP)
This photo taken on January 12, 2024 shows a young customer looking at a display for Super Mario by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo, at an electronics store in Tokyo. (AFP)

Nintendo on Tuesday raised its full-year Switch sales forecast to 15.5 million units from 15 million units previously, as the company squeezed sales out of the aging console over the year-end shopping season.

With the hybrid home-portable Switch nearing its eighth year on the market, expectations are rising that Nintendo will release new hardware this year.

"We want to maintain the momentum of the Switch business," Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told an earnings briefing.

The Kyoto-based gaming company sold 13.74 million Switch units in the first nine months of the financial year, an 8% decline on the same period a year earlier.

The lifecycle of the Switch has been extended by a string of hits such as "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom", which launched last May, and "Super Mario Bros. Wonder", which went on sale in October and has sold more than 10 million units.

The Switch, whose iterations include the handheld only Switch Lite and a version with an OLED display, followed the poorly performing Wii U and has total sales second only to the Nintendo DS handheld after passing the Wii.

Nintendo shares closed down 0.5% ahead of earnings and have gained 14% year-to-date.

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Paris Olympics Expected to Face 4 Billion Cyber Incidents

A general view of the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower a day before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, in Paris, France June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower a day before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, in Paris, France June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Paris Olympics Expected to Face 4 Billion Cyber Incidents

A general view of the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower a day before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, in Paris, France June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower a day before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, in Paris, France June 25, 2024. (Reuters)

As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approach, cybersecurity officials are bracing for over 4 billion cyber incidents. They are setting up a new centralized cybersecurity center for the Games, supported by advanced intelligence teams and artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Eric Greffier, the technical director for Paris 2024 at Cisco France, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Tokyo 2020 Games saw around 450 million cyber incidents. He added that the number of incidents expected for Paris is at least ten times higher, requiring a more efficient response.

Greffier explained that a single cybersecurity center allows for better coordination and a faster response to incidents.

This approach has proven effective in other areas, such as banking and the NFL, where his company also handles cybersecurity, he added.

The Extended Detection and Response (XDR) system is central to the company’s security strategy.

Greffier described it as a “comprehensive dashboard” that gathers data from various sources, links events, and automates threat responses.

It offers a complete view of cybersecurity and helps manage threats proactively, he affirmed.

The system covers all aspects of the Olympic Games’ digital security, from network and cloud protection to application security and end-user safety.

In cybersecurity, AI is vital for managing large amounts of data and spotting potential threats. Greffier noted that with 4 billion expected incidents, filtering out irrelevant data is crucial.

The Olympic cybersecurity center uses AI and machine learning to automate threat responses, letting analysts focus on real issues, he explained.

One example is a network analytics tool that monitors traffic to find unusual patterns.

Greffier said that by creating models of normal behavior, the system can detect anomalies that might indicate a potential attack. While this might generate false alarms, it helps ensure that unusual activity is flagged for further review.