Early this morning, Nintendo announced its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2016. Amidst staggering profit decline, the company also dropped a bombshell: NX is coming later than anticipated.

There was never a formal announcement that NX was coming in 2016. However, with the planned release of The Legend of Zelda Wii U (long expected to be an NX title, also) and the expectation of a speedy transition to the next hardware cycle, a fall 2016 launch seemed logical.

Instead, Nintendo has announced that the NX launches in March 2017 and the next Zelda game will release on the new platform and the Wii U simultaneously. This makes the Wii U a lame duck for about 11 months and robs the holiday of the system’s biggest software launch since Super Smash Bros.

This isn’t a “Nintendo is doomed” story. This isn’t a lament over the company’s former greatness or a condemnation of its recent mistakes.

This is a look at what the pieces of today’s announcements mean for the company between now and March 2017 when the NX launches. It’s an analysis of how 2016 will be shaped by information delivered in the year-end financial statements today.

The Wii U Is A Lame Duck
In fiscal year 2016 (ended March 31, 2016), Nintendo sold 3.26 million Wii U consoles. That’s a quarter of the life-to-date 12.8 million units sold worldwide since November 2012. 

This wasn’t Nintendo’s strongest year (it was bested by 2015 and and the Wii U’s launch in fiscal year 2013), but with games like Splatoon and Super Mario Maker, interest in the console was on par with past performance.

That’s why we’re taking note of Nintendo’s expectation for the Wii U in the coming year. The forecast moving forward for fiscal year 2017? 800,000 units. Nintendo is communicating to investors that it doesn’t see a way forward for the console. 

Of course, despite announcing a March 2017 release for the NX, the company has not shared any predictions for sales numbers that would occur during the year ending March 31, 2017. Therein lies the problem. 

Nintendo has effectively killed the Wii U with 11 months left to go, but it can’t specify or substantiate any sales numbers for the replacement. Without detailing the hardware and an anticipated launch window software lineup (even if incomplete), Nintendo is sending the message that the Wii U’s best days are behind it without giving people reason to be excited about the successor.

So far, this hasn’t had a significant impact on the stock price (share value is only down about one percent). However, as 2016 winds onward, Nintendo is in an uphill battle to move stock.

The company says it anticipates producing Wii U consoles through some time in 2018. It’s unclear why it would go through the trouble.

Software Sells Consoles
The decision to boot NX and Zelda to 2017 creates an enormous vacuum for Nintendo through the remainder of 2016. First, lets look at what we know is coming on the software front from first-party in North America (remember that this includes all software announced for release from April 1, 2016 on:

• Star Fox Zero + Star Fox Guard – Available Now
• Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE – June 24, 2016
• Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – June 24, 2016
• Paper Mario: Color Splash – 2016
• The Legend of Zelda (name not final) – 2017
• Project Giant Robot (name not final) – TBD

The third-party list is filled with indie games from small studios. That’s not to say they won’t be good, but with Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens the biggest currently announced name (and only premium game from a major publisher), this reads like padding. Unless Nintendo decides to feature an indie on a Nintendo Direct, promotional support has traditionally been non-existent.

All of this is to say there is just about no forward-looking reason to purchase a Wii U right now. Nintendo’s aforementioned forecast for Wii U hardware signifies the publisher doesn’t expect much to move the needle for new hardware sales. 

Sending The Wii U Off With A Bang
The Wii U is too expensive at $300. You can get an Xbox One for that price and a PlayStation 4 for just $50 more. 

Alongside the NX release window announcement this morning, Nintendo should have immediately slashed prices on the Wii U. A price drop is long overdue and as competition has been coming down in price, Nintendo has been snuffed out of the conversation.

Without a price drop, that only gets worse. Nintendo profits dropped by 60 percent year-over-year. Nintendo has also predicted a sharp slide in software sales from 2.7 million units to 1.5 million. Even that seems ambitious with Star Fox Zero and Paper Mario: Color Splash the only marquee games.

In order to hit the 800,000 unit target, Nintendo needs to shift gears on its messaging. The Wii U isn’t the hot new system. It needs to be positioned as an inexpensive alternative for playing Nintendo greats like Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Super Mario 3D World, and others. 

It isn’t for trend-setters or cutting edge buyers – It’s for people who have been holding off until the price is right to play the games they can’t get elsewhere.

The end of the Wii U need not be a morose funeral. It should be a boisterous celebration of the console’s short-lived legacy. This is a chance for Nintendo to highlight the platform’s successes. This is the console that saw the introduction of multi-million selling Splatoon, gave gamers the tools to design like Miyamoto in Super Mario Maker, and brought Mario Kart into the HD era.

Nintendo’s 2017: More Profit, But Not A Full Recovery
As is financial practice, Nintendo has laid out a forecast for its next fiscal year in concert with its previous year report. The company anticipates nearly level sales, net profit growth of 112.1 percent, and a jump of 56.3 percent in operating income.

What this tells us is that Nintendo anticipates that NX will make up for sharp drops in Wii U hardware and software sales, as well as 3DS sales that are in decline. This is despite the NX launching late in the fiscal year.

Usually, new console releases are additive. Look at how well PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 continued to perform a year or more into the current generation cycle. Nintendo does not have that advantage given the Wii U’s softness.

However, Nintendo will be able to capitalize on add-on sales. The NX hardware might not make the company money (and may even be a slight loss-leader), but with new console software purchases, additional controllers, and any other launch accessories, Nintendo can recognize better profit margins than it would trying to push Wii U and older software. 

The Shape Of Things To Come
It’s going to be a strange year for Nintendo and its fans. The Wii U software we know is coming prior to the NX launch is underwhelming.

Nintendo will hit big beats in 2016 as it reveals the NX hardware and its first-party games, but the company has any interested third-party developers and publishers at its mercy. E3, typically a big opportunity for publishers to show games to retail partners, is a wash for any NX launch window titles. Games that are coming to the new system can’t be shown, because Nintendo won’t want anyone spilling the beans about unique functionality.

The first nine months of the year (three quarters worth of financial reporting) are likely to be grotesque. The bright spot along the way will be Pokémon Sun and Moon, which will sell millions out of the gate for 3DS. But Nintendo’s holiday will likely be quiet. Its best hope is making Wii U the impossible-to-refuse bargain deal.

Moving forward, all eyes will be on NX and March. Nintendo’s fiscal year hangs in the balance.

[UPDATE] Epic has responded to our request for comment, confirming the Essentials Edition will contain an Early Access version of Paragon.

“Paragon Essentials Edition will offer a great value to players who are looking to hop into the game early and get more than $160 of value (based on in-game currency) for only $59.99. The Essentials Edition will be available at retail locations in June, when Paragon is still in Early Access. We’re excited to let fans join the fight early as we evolve the game over the coming months and years.”

The original story follows:

You can play Paragon right now if you’re willing to pay $20 or more for Founder’s Packs, though the Epic-developed MOBA will be free-to-play once it leaves Early Access. However, if you want a physical edition of the game on PS4, you can pay $60 in exchange for skins, five Hero Master Challenges, and in-game currency.

Epic’s senior marketing manager, Wes Phillips, announced the Paragon Essentials Edition on the PlayStation Blog, where he detailed what players would get for the $60 version of a free-to-play game. The physical retail edition comes with five skins, including the launch-exclusive Wasteland Twinblast skin–Phillips notes that you can only get it in the Essentials Edition “for now.”

Players will also get 6,000 Paragon coins, which is valued at $60. You can spend the in-game currency on stuff like skins, boosts, Master Challenges, and other items. Additionally, players get Master Challenges for Twinblast, Sevarog, Iggy & Scorch, and two unannounced heroes. These grant a Challenger skin and permanent XP boost, in addition to unlocking rewards like taunts and the Master skin.

Lastly, players will have five Rep boosts that last for three wins each and speed up the pace at which you earn Rep–it can be spent on card packs and Master Challenges, among other things.

It’s unclear if the Essentials Edition will include a completed version of Paragon or if it will feature the game in its current Early Access state. We’ve reached out to Epic and will update this story as more information becomes available.

Paragon Essentials Edition releases for PS4 on June 7. Those who preorder get an additional 1,000 Paragon Coins.

You can currently buy into Paragon on PC and PS4 with digital Founder’s Packs that cost $20, $60, and $100. The $60 Challenger Founder’s Pack gets you 13 Master Challenges, as opposed to the Essential Edition’s five. It also gets you five weeks of three-win Rep boosts, a Hotrod Howitzer skin, and a $20 Founder’s Pack for a friend. You can see more Founder’s Pack details right here.

You can check out more of GameSpot’s Paragon coverage by visiting the links below:

For all the attention that the iPhone’s encrypted storage and Whatsapp’s new end-to-end messaging encryption have gotten over the last few months—particularly from the US Justice Department—you’d think that encryption is just now hitting the mainstream. But in fact, you and billions of other people been using a less-loudly appreciated form of strong encryption for decades: HTTPS.

TL;DR: HTTPS is the ubiquitous web encryption that not only protects website visitors’ privacy, but also prevents censorship and tampering with sites’ data.

HTTPS, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol with an S appended for “Secure,” is the form of encryption that keeps your credit card data and passwords safe every time you enter them on a website that has even an ounce of security savvy. On a regular HTTP site, by contrast, that data can be intercepted, spied on and even altered by anyone between you and the site’s server—a snoop on the same Starbucks Wi-Fi connection, the internet service provider, or the NSA.

When you visit a regular HTTP website, the web server responds to requests from your browser and simply hands over the website’s unencrypted data. When you visit an HTTPS site, however, your browser and the server first perform an exchange of cryptographic keys that only the other one can decrypt, locking out all eavesdroppers.

“We all know the adage that the Internet is like a series of tubes,” says Peter Eckersley, a technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, using former senator Ted Stevens’ much-mocked but actually-pretty-useful internet analogy. “If you use HTTP, those tubes are totally transparent. Anyone along the way can look inside and see exactly what you’re doing,” he says. Switch to HTTPS, on the other hand, and “those tubes become opaque. Only people at the end can see what’s traveling through them.

Renewed Interest

HTTPS, which protects web traffic using an encryption protocol called SSL or TLS, has existed for more than two decades; it was first integrated into the web browser Netscape Navigator in 1994. But in just the last few years, it’s been undergoing a kind of accelerating renaissance: Whereas HTTPS once was used almost exclusively to protect ecommerce and login pages, web administrators are increasingly rolling out encryption to other sorts of pages, from social media to government sites to news outlets. (Including the one you’re looking at. Stay tuned.)

Today, more than 42 percent of web visits are to pages that use HTTPS, up from less than 38 percent just last summer, by Mozilla’s count. And that increase is due to a growing recognition that HTTPS offers more than just security for your most sensitive personal information, says the EFF’s Eckersley. It also protects what he describes as “the right to read in private.” A visitor to Wikipedia might be learning about a medical condition they may suffer from. Someone searching Craigslist at their office could be looking for a new job. A student reading the Washington Post might be following transgender political issues. All of those activities, Eckersley argues, deserve to be protected from an internet provider, employer, or school administrator just as much as the person’s credit card number. (And fortunately, he points out, Craigslist, Wikipedia, and the Washington Post now all use HTTPS across their sites.)

Proof of Identity

In fact, HTTPS protects more than confidentiality. It also offers authentication and what website administrators call “integrity.” For a site to register in a browser as HTTPS encrypted—noted with a padlock in the browser’s address bar—it needs to authenticate itself: to prove that it’s the site it says it is, rather than an impostor. To do that, a website’s administrator asks a “certificate authority” company like Comodo or Symantec to issue the site a “certificate,” a cryptographic key that in theory can’t be forged. Though certificate authorities have occasionally been hacked, like in the case of the Dutch firm Diginator in 2011, breaking that system of trust. But in general, a certificate means that when your browser says you’re at https://google.com, you really are sharing your data with a Google server and no one else.

As for “integrity,” HTTPS also prevents any interloper on your local network from tampering with or partially blocking the contents of a site on its way from a server to your browser. Without HTTPS, a government censor can choose to block certain pages of a site or even just parts of a page. More active tampering could allow an internet service provider to insert ads or hackers to inject code designed to compromise your computer. Last year the Chinese government even used a similar trick to add a script to the homepage of the Chinese search engine Baidu that triggered visitors’ browsers to request information from the Chinese version of the New York Times and the code repository Github, knocking both sites offline.

Learning From Hacks

Attacks like those have raised awareness that HTTPS is important for more than privacy, says Josh Aas, a Mozilla engineer and the founder of the HTTPS-focused non-profit Let’s Encrypt which has helped somewhere around 4 million sites turn on HTTPS in just the past six months. But he also points to more purposeful warnings about the danger of unencrypted HTTP sites. In 2010, a programmer named Eric Butler released a simple Firefox plugin called Firesheep that allowed anyone to spy on the unencrypted connections of people browsing the same network as them, leading to a flurry of privacy concerns and sparking social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to extend encryption to their entire sites. Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks also made clear how much unencrypted data the NSA was siphoning en masse from the internet, renewing people’s interest in protecting their connections. “The problem just became much more clear over the past five or so years,” says Aas.

But even with a growing awareness of the importance of HTTPS, there is a lot of work to do. A report from Google just last month showed that 79 of the 100 most highly trafficked websites on the internet still do not yet use HTTPS encryption. And according to Mozilla, only 438,000 of the Alexa top 1 million sites offer HTTPS.

“Most users still don’t know about HTTPS, and even if they do, they don’t have any control over it. They have to either transmit their data in the clear or go somewhere else,”says Aas. “If we’re going to protect those people, we need to get websites to adopt HTTPS…It’s really a lynchpin in the internet’s security right now.”

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