Wikinews Shorts: May 17, 2007

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A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, May 17, 2007.


PlayStation Portable to sell products online

A Playstation Portable
A Playstation Portable

Sony have announced that a PlayStation Portable (PSP) store is in the works, it will be very similar to the PlayStation 3 (PS3) store that is already online.

It will allow the purchasing and downloading of games directly through to PSPs. This will allow the downloading and playing of PSPs as well as PlayStation 1 (PS1) games, which can already be downloaded from the PS3 Store and transferred to PSPs using official firmware.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian suggested that Sony is changing their views on the PSP and a new one could be in the works.

Sources


Canadian plane en route to Wilmington, Delaware, USA crashes; kills 3 people

A Beechcraft Baron
A Beechcraft Baron

At 9:30 a.m. EDT this morning, a small Canadian plane, identified as a Beechcraft Baron, crashed near Dunkirk Airport in Dunkirk, New York, 50 kilometres southwest of Buffalo. The two passengers and the pilot onboard were killed but their identities are still not known. The aircraft was destroyed.

The plane was en route from Oshawa, Ontario to New Castle County Airport in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

The pilot was concerned about the left engine breaking and, instead, planned to land in Dunkirk, New York but crashed in the woods, less than a kilometre away from the airport.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are currently investigating. There is no word if Transport Canada will be entering into the investigation to help identify the bodies.

Sources


Poll: Finns favor gender-equality in pay

Location of Finland
Location of Finland

According to a poll commissioned by Finland newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by statistical research service Suomen Gallup, nearly 80% of Finns are in favor of pay raises that will promote gender equality.

A majority of 78% favored higher pay raises for public sector professions like nursing, that are predominantely female. The survey also found that densely populated areas, tend to be more in favor of gender equality.

The current Finnish Council of State, lead by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, has a female majority of 12 women and 8 men.

Source


NPD Group releases game sales for April

File:DS (pixel art).png

The Nintendo DS
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

Nintendo dominated NPD sales for the month of April with its portable Nintendo DS and its gaming console the Wii at the top of the charts. Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable came in third and fourth respectively. Microsoft's Xbox 360 continued to put up satisfactory sales coming in fifth. Sony's PlayStation 3 continues to lack sales-wise, coming in behind the Nintendo's Gameboy Advance for the third month in a row.

Approximately 360,000 units of the Wii were sold at USD$250. Nintendo sold more than 1.7 million Pokemon games.

The Xbox 360 sold approximately 174,000 units.

The PlayStation 3 seen some low sales in April selling only 82,000 units, 37% lower from March.

Full NPD Sales:

  • Nintendo DS - 471,000
  • Wii - 360,000
  • PlayStation 2 - 194,000
  • PlayStation Portable - 183,000
  • Xbox 360 - 174,000
  • Game Boy Advance - 84,000
  • PlayStation 3 - 82,000
  • GameCube - 13,000

Source