creatures inc. ( 株式会社クリーチャーズ kabushiki-gaisha kurīchāzu ) is a japanese video game development company affiliated with the pokémon company .

it was founded by tsunekazu ishihara in november 1995 , with the assistance of nintendo 's satoru iwata , as a successor to shigesato itoi 's company ape inc . it is well known for producing pokémon trading cards and toys , as well as developing many video games .

its current president is hirokazu tanaka , who was previously known for producing and composing various other nintendo games .

the company has its headquarters on the second floor of the gobancho ku building ( 五番町kuビル gobanchō ku biru ) in chiyoda , tokyo , in proximity to the ichigaya station .

creatures ( company )

creatures welcome page .
creatures inc . 2000 - 03 - 02 . retrieved 2010 - 10 - 04 .
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welcome to creatures inc .
creatures inc . retrieved 2010 - 10 - 04 .
東京都中央区日本橋3 - 2 - 5川崎定徳ビル別館5f .
ht : i’m the company’s second president , so i wasn’t the founder of the company . the company has been around for 15… it’s their 16th year . but he’s been the president of the company for 10 years .
creatures pokémon game cards and toys .
creatures inc . retrieved 2010 - 10 - 04 .
ポケモンカードゲームxy スーパーレジェンドデッキ60「ゼルネアスex・イベルタルex」2014 . 11 . 14
click here to make a tax - deductible donation online via paypa l , or send a check made payable to playhouse creatures theatre company to the address at left . thank you ! playhouse creatures theatre company is a 501c3 designated nonprofit organization . all gifts are fully tax - deductible .
from chiptune pioneer to president of creatures , hirokazu tanaka is a great guy .
creatures inc . ( formerly known as ape ) a japanese subsidiary of nintendo entertainment .
ape / creatures has developed or has contributed to the development of the following games .
4kids previously held a stake of 3 % in the pokemon company , with nintendo , creatures and game freak holding 32 , 32 , and 33 % respectively .
creatures was founded originally as a successor company to ape inc , the development company most notably responsible for earthbound . creatures staff aided in the development of the main series pokémon games , and the studio itself has developed titles such as the pokepark series for the wii , the pokémon ranger ds series and the pokédex 3d app for 3ds .
ht : so game freak and creatures are the developers , and nintendo is the publisher . the pokémon company is like the producer , they’re the agency of the franchise .
1up : moving on , i’d like to talk a little bit about creatures . were you one of the founders of the company , or did you come into creatures later , after it had been around a little while ? i know it’s about 15 years old now…
originally named
the pokémon center company
and founded in 1998 , the pokémon company was established through joint investment by the three businesses holding the copyright on pokémon : nintendo co . , ltd . , creatures inc . , and game freak inc .
in relation to the other companies , nintendo owns a 32 % share in the pokémon company , and a small ( not financially significant for nintendo ) stake in creatures inc .
so as it stands nintendo own 33 % creatures inc own 33 % game freak own 34 % the pokemon company is a joint venture that likely has a board built of members of each company that decide each and every fate of pokemon . pretty simple .
as of november 2015 , 84 people work at the company . [ 1 ]
company of heroes has won multiple awards and sold over 4 million copies worldwide .
the name of the company was changed to nintendo playing card co . ltd .
april 1989 - japan - satoshi tajiri founds the game development company game freak .
the pokémon company international is not responsible for the content of any linked website that is not operated by the pokémon company international . please note that these websites ' privacy policies and security practices may differ from the pokémon company international ' s standards .
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japanese gaming company nintendo has unveiled its new nintendo switch console at a presentation in tokyo .
the company was founded after ape inc . was disbanded , known for creating the earthbound series of video games . nintendo does use ape inc . when referring to creatures in financial documents . [ 4 ]
creative creatures contributors we love when people create with us . take a look at the artists who contribute to and collaborate with creative creatures & co . kameron campbell chief creative creature the artists & creatives of the creative creature collective
“you ' ve never seen a strategy game with combat as intense as company of heroes . ”
the company developed a laser clay shooting system which rivaled bowling as a major pastime in japan .
ht : originally , game freak was making the games and creatures was the production company . creatures were the people talking to nintendo about stuff . because they were playing different roles , that’s probably why they were different companies . the pokémon company is in charge of bringing the franchise to the movies and anime and stuff like that . nintendo isn’t related to that part at all . that’s why it’s so complicated and there’s so many companies involved .
after mother 2 was completed , ape went into hibernation . in 1995 , tsunekazu ishihara founded creatures with members from ape .
millions of these big - eared creatures were sold during their first three years and , somehow , they are still around .
it is centered on fictional creatures called
pokémon
, which humans capture and train to fight each other for sport .
ht : the mainstream games are created by game freak , and then creatures creates the card games , mainly . but the games that game freak doesn’t create , creatures often works on . the 3d modeling for pokémon is all created within creatures , too . the 3d modelings will be used in the card games , in the actual games , in commercials , everything else .
pokemon was a dream project for game freak founder satoshi tajiri , and even with nintendo’s assistance as a publisher , the developer had apparently bitten off more than they could chew with the ambitious title . this is where creatures , inc . enters the picture . creatures was a company that grew out of the remains of ape , inc . , the developer of earthbound beginnings and earthbound . earthbound had had a particularly troubled development , and ape’s head , japanese writer shigesato itoi , wasn’t sure if he was going to make another game or not . thus , ape was dismantled and reformed as creatures . the staff of the company was largely made up of ex - nintendo employees , and nintendo themselves invested in the developer . the original head of creatures , inc . , tsunekazu ishihara , has run the pokemon company since its inception . recently , it was made known that nintendo’s current holdings in the company amount to 10 % .
creatures , inc . was established on november 8 , 1995 under ceo tsunekazu ishihara and former staff from ape . [ 5 ]
- nintendo has a stake in creatures inc . ; however , nintendo decided to not disclose the ownership ratio ( please understand )
that ' s an understatement . creatures was apparently formed from staff of ape inc . , known better for mother / earthbound .
1up : can you explain how the pokémon ownership situation works ? i’ve asked people at nintendo of america and they can’t really explain it to me . i know there’s creatures , there’s game freak , there’s nintendo , there’s the pokémon company , but i don’t know exactly which company does what and who plays what role . it’s all very confusing…
the company listed stock on the second section of the osaka stock exchange and on the kyoto stock exchange .
, who was previously known for producing and composing various other nintendo games . the company has its headquarters in
sakamoto : dachoras and etecoons are alien creatures who teach samus new moves , and they ' ve gotten trapped while trying to evacuate .
and other merchandise in japan . creatures owns one - third of the copyright to the pokémon franchise ( the other two - thirds owned by
as pokémon was about to launch outside of japan , it had already conquered its homeland . it was decided to set up the first pokémon center stores in japan in 1998 to support the fanbase there . a holding company was set up to run the operations of the store , which would grow into being the official brand managers of pokémon after a rename to the pokémon company . the company ' s shares are 32 % owned by nintendo , with similar proportions to creatures and gamefreak .
the company changed its name to nintendo co . , ltd . and started manufacturing games in addition to playing cards .
human entertainment , a japanese developer and publisher , was the first video games company goichi suda worked at . the company produced games for a wide variety of platforms . it is best known for producing the fire prowrestling series of games .
giant hands of doom : the developers of this company seem to like this type of boss , especially masahiro sakurai .
if you have further questions about pokémon or the pokémon company international , please contact us via our customer service portal .
nintendo handled localization up through diamond & pearl , i think . after that , the pokémon company international took over .
there is no clear official answer , but it seems like nintendo and the pokemon company relationship should be straight forward . the pokemon company answers to nintendo , showing progress with pokemon games and collaborating with nintendo itself to create new games .
. it is ok to seek out creatures and destroy them with fireballs , but it is not necessarily permissible to say that it is wrong .
creatures does a lot of the non - core rpg stuff but this might be the most complicated thing of the whole shebang , what the difference between creatures and game freak is . pre - pokemon they were very clearly different entities but that ' s not so much the case now .
for pure speculation if the big n owns over 50 % of the creatures company , then they would virtually own 66 % of pokemon . which , given the fact that there seems to be a smokescreen in place to uncover this information , is probably the case .
these robotic talking creatures were simultaneously cute and creepy , which may be why furbies became so popular . they even have their own language : furbish .
november 2 , 1999 - united states - tiger electronics releases a toy version of pokémon ' s pokedex device that contains information about all 151 creatures .
what we see are the copyright owners of the pokemon media franchise . among its stakeholders are nintendo , creatures inc . , and game freak inc .
nintendo making video games in the first place qualifies as network decay , considering the company originally created and distributed playing cards .
nintendo pays game freak to develop & produce the game in conjunction with the pokemon company overseeing the production on their behalf .
hirokazu tanaka is the president of creatures , inc . others may know him for his musical work on the likes of balloon fight metroid , and earthbound .
ok . . . still confused lol . but seriously , thankss , i feel i am a lot closer to understamding the situation . but 1 question , who the hell is creatures inc . i get who gf are ( satoshi tajiri is based there , right ? ) but what do creatures inc do ?
creatures , inc . is involved in the creative process for pokémon like merchandising , parts of the anime , tcg , and non - mainline game development .
game freak almost went bankrupt during the original development of red and green . creatures provided funding , and was given partial ownership of the ip in exchange .
early installment weirdness : nintendo actually starting as a playing card company in 1889 . they even tried branching out into numerous other ventures from the mid 1950 ' s and on , such as a taxi service , a rice company , a love hotel chain , a tv network , and even being a toy manufacturer before they finally carved out their niche as a video game company .
this bean - filled line of stuffed animals was launched in 1993 , but it wasn ' t until 1995 when the craze began and people started to collect them . the company created creatures for a limited time , which drove the prices up as people tried to collect them all .
above . company member eric tucker at rehearsal for pctc ' s 2015 mainstage production of peter sinn nachtrieb ' s hunter gatherers .
it should be mentioned that hal had been developing the game , and creatures had been involved with the graphics creation . benimaru ashura ito ( now with creatures ) served as the art director , and hirokazu tanaka was slated to handle the third game’s music again , but the job ultimately fell to shogo sakai of hal .
“i think adorable little creatures that battle each other is just a unique concept thats fun for every generation . ” holly payne , 30 , cleveland , tenn .
nintendo own the pokemon character ( names ) , logo , publishing rights but share the pokemon franchise ownership with two other entities , game freak and creatures inc .
the company developed home - use videogames in cooperation with mitsubishi electric :
tv game 15
and
tv game 6
.
i’d like to begin with you , if i may , ishihara - san . you ' re president and ceo of the pokémon company
on the 1st line , the following is mentioned - © 2015 pokémon . © 1995 & # 8211 ; 2015 nintendo / creatures inc . / game freak inc .
but wait , what about the pokemon company ? they own the pokemon ip and are in turn owned in near - equal shares by nintendo and two other companies , right ? so that means nintendo’s slice is 33 % and if creatures and game freak ( the other co - owners of the pokemon company ) decide to take their ball and go to playstation , there’s nothing nintendo can do about it , right ? the pokemon company is probably the most confusing point of the whole arrangement , and it’s easily the source of most misconceptions about the ownership of the pokemon franchise .
the switch “inherited all of nintendo’s entertainment dna” across the company’s broad line of products , said shinya takahashi , nintendo’s head of software development .
toshiro nagoshi of one - time nintendo nemesis sega said his company “will consider new games for the nintendo switch and present them soon . ”
1 the pokémon company was established in 2000 and , in addition to managing the pokémon brand , it runs six pokémon centers around japan .
the roles are very clear in the ownership of pokémon – nintendo does distribution and publishing , creatures takes the cards , gamefreak the games and pokémon company everything else . the arrangement works for the companies and the fans , so it ' s going to be a relationship that stays together for years to come .
february 1990 - japan - game freak teams up with art studio creatures and begins work on what will eventually become pokémon blue / red for nintendo ' s game boy .
it ' s interesting to note that hirokazu
hip
tonaka quit composing for nintendo so he could work on the pokemon anime with creatures . apparently he joined as a guest to compose the first japanese opening theme , nintendo forbid him from doing anymore work with a seperate company ( even though it was for one of their ips ) , and left them to keep composing the openings for the anime . did nintendo always have a stake in creatures , or is it a recent thing ?
impossible creatures released in partnership with microsoft . originally titled sigma : the adventures of rex chance , it represented yet another first for relic and the rts genre – unfettered creativity .
yamamoto : there may also be people who played super metroid before who don ' t know about that . i hope they will play the game again and help those creatures !
sakamoto : and we returned to work on january 2 after the new year . but all the places to eat near the company were closed .
the launch of company of heroes online represents our first foray into massive multiplayer online real - time strategy ( mmorts ) gaming . initially designed for the asian market in 2008 , company of heroes online was one of the first free - to - play games deployed in the western market . based on our highly - rated wwii franchise , the game reimagined the company of heroes experience with the command tree which provided an rpg style progression .
every other dedicated console company such as atari and sega have either gone third - party or outright gone defunct . nintendo is the last one remaining .
ht : the pokémon company would be like the face of the franchise , yes . they talk with nintendo and decide schedules and things like that .
nintendo executive reggie fils - aime holds up the game boy micro at the game company ' s pre - e3 presentation in los angeles on tuesday .
ivy zelanka , president entrepreneur / founder of metro medical services , director of physician services , exam works hisako ando , secretary vp of design + merchandising , komar kids llc joseph w . rodriguez , treasurer ( ex officio ) producing artistic director , playhouse creatures theatre company janet bobcean scenic designer + stage director / associate professor at northeastern university
i was involved in setting up creatures inc . and i remember sitting next to you , ishihara - san , when you were deciding on the initial number of units to be shipped .
sadly no , nintendo do not own hal . they operate as a separate entity with important ties to nintendo , much like creatures inc . ( spiritual successor to ape inc . ) .
nintendo developed an image - projection system and employed the 16mm film projector in amusement arcades . the company began exporting these arcade machines to america and europe .
one other element of zoom’s success has been the super salt plus formula that permeates the company’s lures , giving them an extra dose of bass - attracting flavor .
set in the european theatre of wwii , the company of heroes series is a compelling and historically authentic presentation of this epic conflict’s often violent and gritty warfare .
might as well ask it here but who did the localization for pokémon games for gen 1 - 5 because it felt like they changed company with gen 6 .
ishihara said in late december that a new cloud service called pokémon bank would let players move their creatures back and forth between games - - a service fans have been asking for for many years .
company of heroes 2 , the long - awaited sequel to the most widely acclaimed game in relic’s history , makes its historic return . the game , along with the standalone expansions of western front armies and ardennes assault , expands the scope and scale of the company of heroes franchise while showcasing our continued growth as a developer .
company of heroes has won multiple awards from prominent gaming magazines and sold over 4 million copies worldwide . two standalone expansions—opposing fronts and tales of valor—have since been released .
on the bolded , this is mostly it . game freak develop the games , nintendo ships & publish , and the license is carried out by the pokemon company .
the game boy advance system is a nintendo design , created in its r & d department in osaka , japan . arm corporation is the company responsible for the 32 - bit risc cpu in the game boy advance . arm corporation is a uk - based company responsible for cpus used in cellular phones . konami has also entered a joint agreement with nintendo , and will create a company called mobile 21 . this studio will be responsible for the software that will interface with the 128 - bit gamecube system .
thus , the fact that nintendo , game freak , and creatures have near - equal shares in the pokemon company actually doesn’t tell us a thing about who really owns the pokemon franchise and in what proportions . it’s the ultimate red herring in this discussion . to try to tease out the real answer , we have to go back to the early 1990s , when the first game was in development . it should be noted that the answer of who owns it is definitely known . just go check the copyrights on every pokemon product and you’ll see the three companies who share the ip : nintendo , game freak , and creatures . but as for the size of each company’s ownership , we’ll have to do some spit - balling . you ready , friends ?
as the header implies , i would like to discuss the ownership of the pokemon brand / franchise due to various misinformation spread in the media and various users . i hope the below will help explain the complicated relationship between pokemon , nintendo , creatures inc . , game freak and the pokemon company . what a mouthful , ready ? let ' s catch all the answers together !
the company started selling cards printed with walt disney characters , opening up a new market in children ' s playing cards and resulting in a boom in the card department .
iconic logo : red in the west and blue in japan for much of the company ' s video game - making history , but switched to gray internationally in 2006 .
nintendo are in constant communication with the pokémon company on production and distribution of each pokémon game . game freak develops each title while nintendo handles the publishing aspect & marketing duties
i believe the pokemon company needs nintendo ' s blessing to work with other companies , ex . niantic ( pokemon go ) and the makes of tekken ( pokken tournament )
pokémon are creatures of all shapes and sizes who live in the wild or alongside humans . for the most part , pokémon do not speak except to utter their names . pokémon are raised and commanded by their owners ( called “trainers” ) . during their adventures , pokémon grow and become more experienced and even , on occasion , evolve into stronger pokémon . there are currently more than 700 creatures that inhabit the pokémon universe .
japanese gaming company reveals new console , which launches with flagship title zelda : breath of the wild , will cost $ 299 . 99 in us and £279 . 99 in uk
the pokémon go effect has sent nintendo’s shares surging for the second day running , driving the japanese company’s value up by more than a third since the game’s launch last week .
if the item appears to be licensed , but the company ' s name does not appear on this list , it is possible that the company is either no longer licensed or is no longer in business . if the product is no longer working , it may be appropriate to consider replacing the product . click here for suggestions on replacing older products .
that ' s a great observation . i ' ll divert your attention to the following : urltoken 4kids previously held a stake of 3 % in the pokemon company , with nintendo , creatures and game freak holding 32 , 32 , and 33 % respectively . i ' ve questioned nintendo about this and in return , they only advised me that nintendo has a 32 % ownership stake in tpc .
access map archived 2011 - 07 - 16 at the wayback machine . .
( direct image link archived 2011 - 07 - 16 at the wayback machine . ) creatures inc . retrieved 2010 - 10 - 04 .
in
electroplankton
you use the ds touch screen to manipulate underwater creatures . as you move them , each makes a sound . putting your moves together creates a melody to go along with the pictures on the screen .
contrarily to what is mentioned , pokemon is a media franchise jointly - owned by creatures inc , nintendo , and game freak . i will develop that said ownership and its relationship shortly down the line in much more detail .
nintendo was once ( or , depending on your preference , still is ) the go - to company for video games , and as such , they hold a larger place in entertainment history than any other video game company . the list that follows is only a partial selection of an absolutely massive 30 + year lineup on multiple different consoles and many hand held variants :
ht : that kind of thinking… i wasn’t told to think like that by anybody — it wasn’t a team member who wanted me to think like that — but when i first entered the company , i came as an engineer to create products . so that was what i had in my mind the whole time . i didn’t enter the company as a music composer .
creatures ' s main role in pokémon now , aside from the development support help , is to handle the design of merchandise . this includes the pokémon trading card game cards and other toys and merch ( including the intern pikachu ) .
pokémon ( & # 12509 ; & # 12465 ; & # 12514 ; & # 12531 ] is a media franchise owned by the pokémon company , and created by satoshi tajiri in 1995 .
as far as i could search using the internet , nintendo owns hal . actually they own 50 % of the company that owns hal , that one that was responsible for the kirby anime .
even those curious creatures known as pikmin were thrust into the spotlight to star in pikmin short movies . this trio of short animated movies could be downloaded from nintendo eshop and enjoyed in glorious hd on wii u or dazzling 3d on nintendo 3ds .
though officially only launched in october of 2016 , these robotic creatures that hatch themselves from eggs became incredibly popular during the christmas season . demand was so high that the new york times called it the
elusive toy of the holiday season .
in essence , the pokemon franchise is owned by three separate entities : nintendo , game freak , and creatures inc ; however , nintendo , in addition to having partial ownership , are trademark owners of the pokemon logo , and pokémon character names .
for this iwata asks interview i am joined by tsunekazu ishihara - san , president and ceo of the pokémon company , and shigeki morimoto - san from game freak . thank you both for coming today .
satoshi tajiri and ken sugimori , two of the most prominent names in the creation of pokémon , originally founded game freak as a gaming magazine in the late 1980s before reorganizing into a video game company .
below , you will find a list of companies that are licensed to create games , accessories , and other licensed merchandise for nintendo systems and characters . use the links below to locate a particular company .
march 1989 – nintendo invests money and founds ape . shigesato itoi is made ceo of the company . ape was created because hiroshi yamauchi , president of nintendo , was concerned that ideas for games would eventually start to dry up if things continued as they were . he believed that exceptional talent would be what supports the industry into the future . since yamauchi was very fond of shigesato itoi’s work , he approached him with the idea . ape was filled with tons of talent , including tsunekazu ishihara ( now ceo of the pokemon company ) , ashura benimaru ito ( famous illustrator ) , akihiko miura ( head planner at genius sonority ) , masayuki miura ( also works at the pokemon company ) , and many others . once everyone was gathered , they all worked together on mother . pokemon also began when satoshi tajiri of creatures brought the game’s idea to ape .
a highly personal gaming experience , all armies used in gameplay are created by the player by combining animals and their attributes into powerful monsters . in fact , more than 40 , 000 custom army units were able to be created from the game’s 50 base creatures . the game also marked a major foray into modding with impossible creatures shipping with a powerful yet easy to use set of tools that gave users the freedom to build custom islands and even import their own wild animals that can be used in creature combinations .
november 21 , 1999 - japan - pokémon gold and silver are released in japan . the games support both game boy and game boy color and feature 100 new creatures . nintendo also releases the gold / silver - compatible pocket pikachu color the same day .
unlike its ever - evolving creatures , pokémon ' s core mechanics of collecting and battling monsters haven ' t changed dramatically in the last 20 years , but carrillo says that consistency is a testament to the success of the original design , not a flaw .
the company created a wholly owned subsidiary , nintendo of america inc . in new york . nintendo began selling the
game & watch
product line in japan , the first portable lcd videogames with a microprocessor .
prior to the launch of wii , nintendo president satoru iwata conducted a series of internal interviews with nintendo staff as well as external developers providing an in - depth look behind the scenes of the company and the process of bringing new hardware and software to market . the “iwata asks” series of interviews would be continued in years to come , often candidly revealing information about the inner workings of the company , both past and present .
hasbro created the g . i . joe action figures in 1964 to market dolls to boys , but due to a sexist company policy at the time , it was prohibited to market them as
dolls .
this home video game system changed the gaming industry for the better . the company teamed up with various developers to create a collection of groundbreaking games that have launched franchises that continue to this day— like super mario .
praised for highly tactical combat , an innovative territory - control resource system and varied single and multiplayer campaign design , company of heroes is consistently regarded as the one of the greatest real time strategy franchises of all time .
in summary , tpc is more like an agency / brand management which serves as a cost center to help get the entities involved money , and handle the pokemon license . it acts in the best interest of all three shareholders : nintendo , game freak , creatures inc .
if you are unable to find the company you are looking for , please check to make sure the product you are inquiring about is a licensed product . unlicensed games and accessories are not recommended for use with nintendo systems .
in short , nintendo owns roughly 33 % of pokemon , while two other companies own the remaining 66 % ( assumingly equally ) . however , one of those companies , creatures , inc . , is the aforementioned business that nintendo has an alleged undisclosed percentage of stock in .
nintendo power , which for years was the company ' s in - house magazine and remained one of the most popular gaming publications until it ended in 2012 . it was revived in the form of a podcast in december 2017 .
that ' s a great observation . i ' ll divert your attention to the following : urltoken 4kids previously held a stake of 3 % in the pokemon company , with nintendo , creatures and game freak holding 32 , 32 , and 33 % respectively . i ' ve questioned nintendo about this and in return , they only advised me that nintendo has a 32 % ownership stake in tpc . none as we would see it as one of their subsidiary in their ir report if they owed a majority stake .
in all that we do at creatures of leisure - and we ' ve been doing it for over 30 years now - we strive to meld the lessons of our experience with cutting edge materials and designs to create highly functional , premium quality surfing accessories that are built to last .
2 creatures inc . was established in 1995 . in addition to developing pokémon video games and playing cards , it has made games such as no no no puzzle chailian for the game boy advance and ‘walk with me ! do you know your walking routine ? ’ for nintendo ds .
in 1985 , when nintendo rolled out its first - ever home video game console , nintendo entertainment system ( nes ) , in america , the company wasn’t expecting sales to rocket as quickly as they did . their follow - up , super nintendo ( snes ) , arrived stateside by 1991 , but with few drastic changes to gameplay , it offered little variation between consoles . it wasn’t until 1996 that the company—and video games as a whole—leveled up with nintendo 64 .
the company researched and developed the hands free controller , making the nes accessible to even more nintendo fans . the game library for the nes grew to 65 titles , helping to broaden the system ' s appeal to include more adults .
is a global , multi - platform media and entertainment company . powered by its own proprietary technology , mashable is the go - to source for tech , digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe .
the portable tablet from learning company leapfrog was designed just for kids . the touchscreen device could have educational games downloaded via apps or use cartridges . it was sturdier than an ipad , so it was a good alternative for little kids .
last week ' s introduction of pokémon go was famously teased by the pokémon company as having
new company partnerships
, which set off a brief torrent of speculation about what that could mean . some people took it as a sign that pokémon would be going all mobile going forward . in reality , it turned out to be an arrangement co - ordinated by the late satoru iwata to create an alternate reality pokémon rpg for mobile , with the blessing of nintendo .
in the pokémon —or “pocket monsters”—video - game series , players were able to explore the game’s fictional world by looking for wild pokémon creatures to capture and tame . as pokémon trainers , they readied the small monsters to compete in battle against other trainers’ pokémon . although fighting was a key aspect…
warhammer 40 , 000 : dawn of war ii is released marking the next chapter in this acclaimed rts series . as a sequel , it took the premise of the original while incorporating the ground breaking gameplay features introduced in company of heroes .
the july 2016 case study that was built entirely on archival material – company statements , press releases , annual reports , financial statements , newspaper coverage — not only throws light on the journey of this 125 - year - old company , but also brings to fore the lapses along the way . the case study becomes all the more crucial since the company appointed 67 - year - old tatsumi kimishima as its fifth president in 2015 ; he had been ceo , nintendo america , for 13 years . kimishima was called in to take over the reins after the death of satoru iwata , who had played a pivotal role in designing the nintendo ds and wii video game consoles . the two authors have also produced “pokémon go : game on ! ” as a supplement to their earlier case . developed in partnership between the pokémon company ( nintendo has a 32 per cent stake ) and niantic inc . ( nintendo has a majority stake ) , pokémon go is a free - to - play , location - based augmented reality game , which was released in july 2016 in australia , new zealand and the united states . players have to locate and capture virtual creatures from the pokémon family in their real - life surroundings with the help of gps and camera - enabled smartphones .
in october 2005 , the [ 4kids entertainment ] sold its interest in equal shares to the members of the investment group [ nintendo , game freak , creatures inc . ] for aggregate proceeds of $ 960k , resulting in a gain of $ 234k as reflected on the accompanying consolidated statements of income .
the way out for nintendo ? delios says students came up with suggestions such as the company has to come up with some super hit gaming system or transition into 3ds consoles . “but they also have to appreciate that the industry is increasingly moving away from consoles and that even if they succeed , it will still only make for a small piece of the pie , ” he says . he adds that another valid opinion that crystallized into doable action was that nintendo could become part of a larger company . after all , it is a far smaller company compared to sony and microsoft , which have much deeper pockets and being successful in the gaming industry isn’t their core business . “nintendo has valuable assets , and some other company can leverage on those in a better way in terms of the characters created and the technology it has , ” says delios , adding , “but it needs to do this before they burn all of their money or their characters die in our memories . ”
zoom’s attention to detail and innovative nature has allowed the company to grow . that was 1977 . in the nearly four decades since that relatively inauspicious beginning , zoom’s attention to detail and innovative nature has allowed the company to grow . now , instead of a 55 gallon drum , there’s a 40 , 000 square foot facility with state of the art equipment manned by over 100 full - time employees , producing countless styles of lures in over 400 distinct color patterns in the distinctive red packaging .
duke nukem advance is a portable video game in the duke nukem series , released for the nintendo game boy advance in august 2002 . the game was developed by torus games , an australian based company , and published by take - two interactive .
game freak most likely have a profit - sharing contract in place with nintendo if certain conditions are met such as profitability ( production + marketing costs recouped ) , reception , shipment figures , etc ; however , no company will divulge such information .
nintendo isn’t the first company to come to mind when you think “hardcore military strategy sim , ” yet the company’s forays into the niche genre are among the very best out there . sure , the graphics are cartoony and the stories are much lighter than what you might find in many pc games , but there’s real depth in advance wars when it comes to building armies , taking cities , and moving the best units into place to counter the enemy . it’s kind of like fire emblem with tanks .
the terms & conditions are not disclosed , but nonetheless as nintendo are the publishers , the money generated through software sales goes through their finances firstly . a percentage is distributed to the likes of the pokemon company as they are also co - publishers .
in toad rally , players can compete in those courses against friends , gaining approval from toads , the mushroom - hat - wearing creatures part of mario lore . if the player wins , those toads go to live in the player ' s personal mushroom kingdom , customized in the game ' s kingdom builder .
whenever a pokémon game shows its copyright screen , it ' s always shown with four names and 1995 - the year of release . in order , the companies are : pokémon , nintendo , creatures , game freak . we ' ll set the first aside and look at the role of the other three .
gotta catch ' em all
is the franchise ' s catch phrase , referring to the player ' s goal of catching and training the tiny monsters to compete against other players . that ' s gotten significantly harder , though , with the expansion to more than 700 different known creatures in the universe .
under the leadership of young hiroshi yamauchi ( fusajiro ' s grandson ) after world war ii , the company looked to expand its business model to everything from a taxi service to a chain of love hotels to instant foods . most of these junctures failed and their hanafuda sales would plummet after the 1964 olympics . near - bankrupt , the company reached out to one of its workers , gunpei yokoi , noted among coworkers for inventing devices on the side , for product ideas . yokoi brought in a few of his inventions , and nintendo had a few modest hits in these ideas : the ultra hand , the love tester , and the ultra machine , among others . bolstered by these successes , yamauchi decided that nintendo would become an entertainment and games company .
ape , inc . was founded in march 1989 and shigesato itoi became its chief executive officer . nintendo president hiroshi yamauchi had wanted to support new talent in game design . liking itoi ' s work , he proposed the idea of the company to itoi and invested in it . ape ' s staff included tsunekazu ishihara , who later became the pokémon company ' s ceo , and ashura benimaru itoh , a renowned illustrator . they began work on mother , which released in july . its music was composed by hip tanaka , who later became the second ceo of creatures . [ 5 ] the team continued with work on mother 2 . when the project began to falter , satoru iwata of hal laboratory was brought in to help the project . the game was released in august 1994 and the ape team dismantled in 1995 .
after a few more misses , nintendo designed groundbreaking arcade game successes with titles such as donkey kong , radar scope and evr race . gaming giants such as atari and magnavox signed licensing deals with the company , and it seemed as if sky was the limit for nintendo . with the nintendo entertainment system ( nes ) , the company made a mark in home entertainment , and game box was introduced in 1989 , the first handheld portable game system that had the option of changeable cartridges . hiroshi encouraged healthy competition within the company and invested heavily in r & d . game boy marked nintendo’s foray into the western world by selling in europe and the united states . despite sony’s playstation and sega’s genesis coming out in 1994 , nintendo continued to be the global market leader .
june 7 , 1999 - united states - the topps company signs a license agreement with noa to market pokémon trading cards in the u . s . and canada as well as lollipops , stickers and even temporary tattoos in europe , australia and new zealand .
nintendo has a couple of roles in the handling of pokémon . the most obvious thing besides providing the consoles is the publisher outside of japan ( pokémon company is the publisher in japan ) and handling distribution of the titles . however , there is one other key role which is in the small print of any pokémon game and in the legal information on urltoken :
© 2015 pokémon . © 1995–2015 nintendo / creatures inc . / game freak inc . pokémon , pokémon character names , nintendo 3ds , nintendo ds , wii , and wiiware are trademarks of nintendo .
game freak was having a lot of trouble finishing development on pokemon , and it was at a point where it looked like the game might not be finished while the game boy was still on store shelves . more importantly , game freak was starting to run low on cash . it was a very dire situation , to the point that tajiri had stopped drawing a salary from the company so that he could afford to pay the employees . ishihara , the head of creatures , had a previous connection with game freak through producing their super nes point - and - click puzzle game mario & wario . he’s also given a special thanks on game freak’s first game , mendel palace . creatures offered to infuse some cash into game freak to get pokemon to the finish line , and took a share of game freak’s ownership in the franchise in exchange . this proved to be a good deal .
hello ! ! ! we are creative creatures & co , a pop up art shop ; a local community of artists dedicated to bringing awesome art ideas to you since 2012 ! our passion & our focus is encouraging creative confidence in our youth through community workshops , school programs , special events , and art shows .
thanks , now i know that i was not spreading nonsense when i explained this to my friends . however , i still don ' t know wich role creatures inc . has in all this . i know know they helped out with the original games , but that ' s it , or is there more ?
creative creatures & co . is a mobile art collective based in southern california . we travel from san diego to los angeles offering our workshops and programs to various communities of young artists . curious about hosting a program at your home , school , or event ? check out our hosting program to find out more information .
from the outset , relic sought to balance the priorities of people and products while creating the best entertainment software available . a philosophy that clearly resonates given that five of the 16 employees who were part of relic’s inception , remain with the company to this day .
nintendo is only indirectly involved with the game but it owns 33 % of the pokémon company , which owns the pokémon franchise and develops the main series of games , and it has taken a stake in niantic , the former google subsidiary which developed pokémon go .
1up had a chance to interview tanaka at last year’s tokyo game show , and the discussion has now been published online . the outlet quizzed him on a bunch of different topics , including earthbound and his job with creatures , along with more off - beat topics such as starting out with nintendo and working with shigeru miyamoto .
considered by many to be our signature game , company of heroes debuts featuring bold innovations such as squad mechanics with realistic , humanlike behaviour . one of the highest rated rts games of all time , it was given the “best rts score ever” by pc gamer magazine .
nintendo is also rolling back its digital rights - management protections slightly : the company will not region - lock its games , kimishima told the audience , meaning that switch games will be playable whether or not they were purchased in the same country as the console itself .
“here i was , a dungeon master , a game nerd , who decided to make a game company when i didn’t know anything about making games , ” he says . “and here we are . i feel like a part of my life has become complete . ”
pokémon company handles oversight and quality control for the games both mainline and spinoffs , the cards , anime and other projects as well as handling events such as the world pokémon championships . the key for pokémon company is that they have freedom to bring pokémon experiences to other platforms , even if the main games are nintendo handheld exclusives . pokémon applications have been on mobile platforms since 2011 and there are pokémon games in arcades since the release of pokémon tretta since 2012 , with development of these games and apps handled by trusted 3rd parties .
as far as i could search using the internet , nintendo owns hal . actually they own 50 % of the company that owns hal , that one that was responsible for the kirby anime . but i ' ll search again later when i ' m not on mobile
the music in mother and mother 2 was handled by keiichi suzuki of the moonriders band and hirokazu tanaka , in the 1st development department at nintendo . tanaka is currently ceo of creatures , incidentally . tanaka’s reason for working on mother wasn’t anything that special – his boss basically called him over and said , “you do it . ”
we are an award - winning developer of genre - defining real - time strategy games like homeworld , dawn of war , company of heroes and many more . throughout our storied 17 - year history , delivering rich , thoughtful strategy games has always been our defining quality .


lsat caseless ammunition is caseless ammunition produced as part of the u.s. army ’s lightweight small arms technologies ( lsat ) program .

although less advanced in development than the other ammunition component of the program , the caseless round has already produced significant results .

having replicated dynamit nobel 's acr ammunition , the hitp ( high ignition temperature propellant , which is hexogen/octogen-based to decrease heat sensitivity ) ammunition was modified to a 5.56 mm round .

tests proved the ammunition 's usability , and development of the weapon was advanced using knowledge gained from the cased version .

lsat caseless ammunition

the lsat light machine gun is the closest to combat ready gun capable of firing both cased telescopic and caseless ammunition .
plus you then retain ammunition compatibility with the lsat lmg that is going to happen .
what are the advantages and disadvantages of 5 . 56 ammunition over 7 . 62 ammunition ?
reduce weight = a look back at caseless ammunition…… that or simplifying , and cutting weight by moving from brass to aluminum casings .
the lsat with standard 5 . 56 nato and it ' s own cased telescoped ammo .
im drooling over a belt fed lsat like everyone else but the overmatch nonsense needs stop .
in addition to the cased telescoped ammunition , aai is working on caseless ammunition that ' s even lighter and significantly more compact - compared to 5 . 56 , the cased telescoped takes up 12 % less volume ; the caseless stuff has 40 % less volume .
the current us small arms program is lsat . lightweight small arms technologies . iirc the primary aim is to decrease the weight of both weapon and ammunition .
bullet weight is the single biggest contributor to ammunition weight . choose a heavy bullet , and your ammunition becomes accordingly heavier .
a belt of 5 . 56x45 is shown next to lsat belts : caseless ( centre ) and plastic - cased spiral 3 . plastic belt links help to save weight .
the middle ones are the caseless ammunition , the left are standard 5 . 56 cartridges , and the right ones are the cased telescoped variant . both cased and caseless ammo here are with their plastic cap intact .
in this picture the top ones are cased telescoped ammunition , and the bottom are the caseless ones . both with the plastic cap removed .
for the lsat , yes . but lsat has already ended and has been replaced with ctsas . while lsat focussed on lmgs and 5 . 56 ct , ctsas focusses on 6 . 5 ct and to a lesser degree on a carbine . with 6 . 5 ct , the focus isnt necessarily on weight - savings .
unlike conventional small - arms ammunition that features a metallic or plastic casing that marries the projectile to the powder and primer , caseless ammunition surrounds the projectile in a burrito of propellant and primer . this eliminates the stage of ejecting the spent cartridge , saving weight , wear - and - tear , and money . in practice , caseless ammunition magazines are packed at the factory site , and sealed with a removable protector that prevents the elements from corrupting the ammunition .
i looked that caseless mx - 6 . 5 rifle online , and it appears to be based on the real - steel robinson armament xcr assault rifle . the 6 . 5mm caseless ammo is close to the caseless rounds fired by the rda casless rifles in avatar and elysium .
speaking of caseless rounds i recently bought arma 3 & saw the mx 6 . 5 caseless . was cool u should check , it out . if u have a good p . c .
caseless r & d is now done at the onr , but i cant find anything recent .
the lsat actually comes in two versions . one uses ammo using a non - metal , telescoped case , and the other uses caseless ammo . the telescoped ammo is ready for use now while the caseless stuff was still in development . both lsat weapons feature a revolutionary ammo feed that employs a pivot , rather than a bolt , to load the ammo into the chamber . this design propels the case out the front of the weapon . naturally the caseless ammo has no case to eject . the use of the pivot reduces overheating problems , which are more of a hassle with the plastic case of non - metal telescoped cartridge prototype ( which is a straight case , like a pistol , not a bottleneck case more common with high powered rifles ) . the caseless round is the ideal solution but this design is more difficult to manufacture . caseless rounds have been developed before but were found to be more expensive and more vulnerable to rough handling . the original lsat expectation was that if the caseless round were used , the lsat and 600 rounds would be 9 kg ( 19 . 9 pounds ) lighter than the current m249 and its ammo . the new plastic case and the lsat is 6 . 8 kg ( 15 pounds ) less than the m249 .
the most advanced caseless weapon system was the german g11 , but it was never put in service .
yes , because talking demographics has everything to do with an experimental type of ammunition .
holy crap they actually did it . aai discussed a m4a1 upper for the lsat program but i never thought it would be possible .
if they just adopt the 6 . 5 lsat lmg and replace the saw and 240 with that , that’s all we really need .
lsat 5 . 56mm and 7 . 62mm , next to the 5 . 56x45 and 7 . 62x51 ( image courtesy of textron )
i stand corrected , but the basic point is still valid , unless this ammunition is as easily reloaded as current ammunition , you still aren’t getting much ( weight savings ? ) for surrendering access to ammunition in times when the government wants to buy it all up .
beginning in 2004 , the us army and us marine corps started to examine lessening the weight of the m249 saw . given the war in afghanistan , allied soldiers often walked long patrols on bad roads and difficult terrain , with heavy kit . it was the goal of the lightweight small arms technologies program to decrease the weight of a lmg saw by 30 % via use of either cased telescoped ammunition or even completely caseless . the lsat tested their lmg that was lighter by 44 % for the mk . 46 lmg was done by combat experienced soldiers meeting with approval after successful live - fire testing in 2011 . despite the issues with caseless ammunition , the us marines have stated they are looking at lsat lmgs using caseless rounds over the telescoped rounds for deployment around 2014 / 2015 .
between the completely caseless round and the traditional metal cartridge round , is the cased telescoped ammunition or cta . instead of a metallic casing or a propellant casing , cta uses lightweight metallic , or polymer , plastic or even casing with semi - combustible properties , and has the bullet resting deeper in the casing with the use of consolidated propellant . the main advantage of cta is weight saving over traditional ammunition ( about 30 % ) , and less of the fragility risks of caseless ammunition .
and its iconic m41a1 pulse rifle . it is likely that james cameron used caseless ammunition due to prediction by gun and military magazines that it was the next big thing , fueled by the h & k g11 . because of the popularity of this 1986 film , the pulse rifle was often most people first introduction to the term ' caseless ammunition ' , which has been replaced by the g11 of the
after the death of the h & k g11 around 1990 , it seemed that the bold experiment in caseless ammunition for the military was over . that was until the war in afghanistan , when soldiers had to transverse difficult terrain with thinner air than our soldiers were used to . the weight of a light machine gun and the ammunition taxed our soldiers , causing the us army and marine corps to explore the use of caseless or telescoped ammunition to save weight under the lightweight small arms technologies project .
other odd issues that come up with wide spread adoption , because of the construction of caseless ammo , it would be impossible for shooters that pack their own ammunition , snipers and hunters for example . also , if caseless civilian guns were to come available , the lack of shell casings would make criminal investigations harder .
soldiers and u . s . army civilians test fired a new lighter machine gun called the lsat at marine corps base quantico , va . , june 24 . the new weapon is designed to replace light machine guns , such as m249 and m240 . lsat with 600 rounds of ammunition will weigh 23 . 8 pounds , representing 38 % reduction from the current 38 . 3 pounds .
one of the more commonly known issues with caseless rounds is thermally induced firing or ' cooking - off ' . this occurs during continuous firing that heats up the weapon . normal metal cartridges act as a heat sink , lessening the damage of this . caseless ammo is surrounded in a burrito of propellant , that could easily ignite inside the weapon , or given that the ammunition is densely packed , inside the magazine . that would be bad for the gun and the shooter . some sites detail that caseless ammunition would cost more , due to wasted ammo , more protective measures to prevent ammo corruption , switching the entire military over from cased to caseless .
so you would carry only slightly less ammunition , but have a pretty massive increase in firepower .
it would be different if caseless ammunition could do something current ammunition can’t , but that simply isn’t the case ( see what i did there ? ) . all i’m saying is updating technology for the sake of updating technology isn’t always the best bet . i mean try going untraceable in a car newer that 2006…
, the trend might come back , especially if some of the us military ' s caseless lmgs projects hit reality .
first , about the 5 . 56mm lsat which is no longer being worked on : “feedback was that ‘it weighs less but doesn’t do any more ' ”
the us ordnance department explored the possibility of caseless ammunition based weaponry from 1959 through 1975 . major companies , like ge , gm , hughes tools , hercules dove into the project , developing caseless ammunition along with telescoped 5 . 56x30mm ammunition , called ' chicklet ' in 1969 by the hercules company . not much became of this effort , conventional cartridges were used , and by 1975 , the project ended , just has the west german government was in the middle of their own next - generation assault rifle project to replace the g3 battle rifle .
the colt acr contender was simply an improved m16a2 firing a duplex cartridge , and h & k submitted the caseless g11 described above , while aai and steyr offered weapons firing flechette rounds , the steyr ammunition being plastic - cased .
according to several sources , the austrian viere vec - 91 hunting rifle available to the public that combined caseless 5 . 7mm ammunition and electronic ignition via two 15 volt batteries that were good for about 5 , 000 rounds . there is little information on the vec - 91 due to limited sales in us and hard to find ammunition ( caseless has a limited shelve life ) , i believe that the gun is still in production . daisy v / l civilian rifle
minor point , the ammo here is not caseless it’s polymer cased telescoped . furthermore this is a us dod program not civil .
aai was discussing the ability to create a 6 . 5 m4a1 upper for the lsat technology back when they were having soldiers test the lmg at maneuver battle lab .
excellent and informing as always . the ubiquitous boltgun of the emperor ' s angels of death , the space marines , from warhammer 40k is also claimed to shoot caseless ammunition , though the majority of the artwork does not follow this trend . an explanation could be that the variants created by some forge worlds use caseless ammo while patterns of other forge worlds do not . cheers ! chris
source on that ? i haven’t heard of any armor piercing hollow point ammunition for pistols before other than that one from liberty ammunition that turns to dust as soon as it passes through a vest and would just barely break skin .
starting in 2008 the lsat was developed , built , and tested . lsat passed its first field tests in 2012 which involved having eight prototypes firing 25 , 000 rounds over three weeks . at that point everyone agreed that it works . more testing was required to ensure ruggedness and reliability . that took five years , about twice as long as expected .
pct 6 . xmm rounds are better , but the 6 . 5mm ctsas ammunition is still 30 % heavier than brass - cased 5 . 56mm , and come with a 33 % reduction in ammunition capacity per magazine . when you then compare pct 6 . 5mm against pct 5 . 56mm , then you see almost a doubling in ammunition weight .
while the caseless ammunition is both lighter and more compact than the plastic - cased , the usual technical problems experienced with such ammunition has led to the emphasis being placed on the latter . by mid - 2011 some 400 caseless rounds had been fired with a trl 5 demonstration planned for the autumn . in contrast , some 14 , 000 plastic - cased rounds had been fired through four lmgs , and eight lmgs plus 100 , 000 rounds of plastic - cased ammunition ( loaded with m855a1 bullets ) were supplied to the us army for initial testing in autumn 2011 . initial informal reports indicate that this seems to have gone well , but the cost of establishing new production facilities for both guns and ammunition will clearly be a major obstacle to adoption .
dropship is the gau - 113 / b25mm caseless rotary six - barreled cannon . unlike normal caseless weapon systems , the gau - 113 / b drops the 25mm sabot into the barrel , then spray nozzles inject hypergolic liquid fuels as a binary propellant that explode , forcing the sabot out of the barrel at a rate of 6 , 000 rpm . this could be the only example of a large scale caseless weapon systems in science fiction .
i have no idea why you decided to talk about mk262 ammunition when you were comparing bthp’s not used for service loads .
in a nutshell , it ' s a lighter weight light machine gun that fires lightweight ammunition . if that doesn ' t impress you , try this : the standard lsat model weighs 9 . 4lbs , almost half what an m249 weighs ( 17 . 6lbs for the regular version ) . the ammunition is 40 % lighter , too , meaning that a 100rd
nutsack
of the polymer cased telescoped ammunition weighs just over 2lbs , instead of 3 . 3 for regular brass cased 5 . 56 . still not impressed ? well , at 30 . 6lbs , the lsat lmg with 1000 rounds of ammunition weighs 2 . 8lbs less than 1000 rounds of 5 . 56 and no weapon . it ' s an intrepid saw man who carries four boxes in addition to the one attached to his weapon , but the fact remains that this system offers an impressive weight reduction .
another example of use of caseless ammunition in science fiction is in john birmingham ' s axis of time trilogy . his prediction was that most sidearms and point defense systems would go to a metal storm model . i don ' t know if he continued it in next series .
from 1970 through around 1990 , three companies headed by heckler & koch struggled to develop the g11 4 . 73x33mm assault rifle along with a lmg and a pdw pistol variants , but by 1990 , with the reintegration of german , the project was cancelled ( please skip down to read the complete history of the g11 ) . currently , the g11 is the closest that any military has come to adopting a caseless rifle for their primary military assault rifle , but the development was not in vein . the research and technology for the g11 paved the way for other arms - markers to field prototypes , like the current lsat project to field a lightweight / caseless lmg for the us military . this , at the moment , is the only military - funded caseless ammunition project .
from my research , the lsat lmg met with high praise from soldiers , and as of this year , the project is moving forward to stage two . however , this the only example of current research . it seems the heyday of the caseless gun was the 1980 ; s , and now it is going to take something like the lsat lmg to get the rest of the global thinking in that direction . when it comes to the future , is it possible that in 2179 that us marines will be using caseless carbines ? maybe . there would have to be advancements in the science of propellant that allows for a propellant casing that could be handled by the soldiers in the field without breaking down . what could propel caseless weapon into the hands of future soldiers is when we start fighting on exosolar worlds with hostile environments in combat - rated space suits . given that caseless weapons are more sealed that their traditional counterparts , limiting the openings to the environment , could allow for their use where normal firearms would be useless or before we develop dew systems . of course , these caseless weapons could be just limited to use on lunar - like worlds .
three things are evident from these slides : 1 . ) ctsas seems to be seeking a 1200m effective range for the ammunition for both the support weapon and carbine ( shown on slide 11 ) , 2 . ) 6 . 5mm ct retains energy better , but is not significantly lighter than 7 . 62mm ct ammunition , and both are 30 % heavier than even brass - cased 5 . 56mm , 3 . ) ctsas has given up on the lethality and mobility increases cited by the lsat program in 2014 as advantages of the lighter weight 5 . 56mm ct weapon versus the m249 ( the 6 . 5mm and 7 . 62mm ct weapons and ammunition are both heavier than the m249 and its ammunition ) :
, it was soon that science fiction works began using caseless firearms without much research . most of the rash of caseless weaponry was confined to pen - and - paper msf rpg games , and a few books , and by the 1990 ' s , the trend had fallen off . however , with works like
in 1977 , the world ' s premier gun manufacturer , heckler & koch , began testing the attempted next leap in the world of modern firearms , the g11 . the most unique feature of the g11 prototype ( and there were many ) , was the fact the caseless ammunition . it was hoped that this revolutionary assault rifle would pioneer a new era for chemically propelled firearms . however . by 1990 , the ambitious g11 was dead , along with military use of caseless ammunition . in the pages of science - fiction works , often authors and creators use the word
caseless
to describe their futuristic weaponry , and fws is here to bring you the facts on this real - world next - generation firearm technology .
the lsat program actually looks very promising , promising to deliver the us a new family of infantry small arms that will demonstrate some breakthrough technologies ; something that previous competitions such as acr failed to offer .
italian arms marker , benelli , like many , believed that caseless ammunition , like many did in the 1980 ' s , was the future . to get in front of the trend and give the market for smgs in the 80 ' s , in 1982 , benelli and another company developed a simpler ammunition type than the more complex caseless , the 9mm aupo . this was more of a semi - cased weapon than fully caseless , because a hollow metal case contained the sabot and powder that were sealed via a explosive primer at the rear . when the cb m2 was fired , the sabot and casing separated after flight . the project failed to attract any buyers for full - scale production , causing the cb m2 to past into history .
assault rifle : the development of the modern military rifle and its ammunition ' by maxim popenker and anthony g williams . details are here
the cased telescoped ammo already achieved around 40 % weight saving and 10 % volume saving compared to standard nato cartridges , and nearly 100 % combat ready . the lsat with 600 rounds of cased telescoped ammunition will weigh 23 . 8 pounds , representing 38 % reduction from the current 38 . 3 pounds [ of the currently equipped saw ] .
in the 1968 and 1969 , bb and air - gun manufacturer daisy sold the v / l civilian rife that fired . 22 caseless ammunition via hot high pressures . the project started in 1962 with inventor jules van langenhorn developing a sporting civilian rifle that used adiabtic compression to fire . 22 rounds .
my big beef with the lwmmg is the weight of the ammunition . it’s a good concept though , and it could be great if they did a second iteration with a re - engineered ammunition concept that was similar in weight to 7 . 62mm but significantly more powerful .
one problem with caseless ammunition that they couldn ' t overcome at that time is flammability . conventional cased ammunition propellant is protected from accidental initiation by the casing . accidental initiation of caseless ammunition results in each successive round igniting which result in the carrier being engulfed in flames . i watched videos of experiments about this and the soldiers who watched them outright refused to carry the ammunition because of these safety concerns . i initially tried to over come this problem by using a flame deterrent coating . there were problems with this so i decided to reinvent how propellant functions . the second major problem with the g11 was the cost of the ammunition . they used octogen to make heat resistant propellant and the only known source for this was as a bi product of the manufacture of hexogen . this restricted supply resulting in each g11 round costing ten dollars each in late ' 80s money . i do remember all the gibberish about the
peace dividend
and all the other bile crap that the liberals puked up to justify gutting the military .
despite numerous experiments , most notably the heckler & koch g11 , the advantages of caseless ammunition have never been able to outweigh the disadvantages . but that doesn ' t stop the idea from being pretty intriguing . we had the opportunity to take a look at a demonstration mockup of a caseless ammo rifle made by the hughes company . hughes is best known as an aircraft manufacturer , but also did a lot of weapons work , including designs like the heligun ( lots of aircraft - to - guns spillover used to happen - like fairchild and the ar15 ) . anyway , this caseless demonstrator is pretty neat , so we put together this video . urltoken
nice to see you highlight the pros and cons of caseless . but i would add on several occasion you use the term sabot instead of bullet which is rather annoying .
exotic attempts : 5 . 56x45 with monad bullet , 4 . 5mm schirnecker , 9 / 4mm kaltmann ( development round , with part - metal case ) , 5 . 56mm folded , 5 . 56mm hughes lockless , 5 . 56mm us caseless , 6mm voere caseless , early hk g11 4 . 7x21 rounds , final g11 4 . 7x33
aseless ammunition has two greater advantages over conventional metal cartridges : weight and capacity . weight has often being toted has a reason to adopt this new type of ammo . recently , the us marines states that weight was a major factor in their research for using caseless ammunition in a light machine gun , saving around 25lbs , thus , allowing more ammunition or kit to be carried . as the picture on the right displays , a g11 could carry 510 rounds over 240 rounds for the m16 or 100 for the g3 / fal / m14 battle rifle all for the same weight , 16 . 2lbs . the standard g11 stick magazine carried fifty 4 . 73mm rounds , giving caseless assault rifles more magazine capacity over traditional stanag magazines , basically reducing bulk in the soldier ' s gear .
by 1977 , ghgs had a working fifth prototype with sight and ammunition that similar to the final shape , however , the ammunition was proven more difficult than the gun itself . original , dynamit nobel had the telescoped 4 . 3mm ammo , then jumped to 4 . 9mm , then by prototype gun number six , around 1977 or 1978 , it was down to 4 . 7mm , but still telescoped . one of the main issues was that builtup heat of the interiors of the weapon cooking - off the caseless rounds . is more deadly in caseless weapons than traditional firearms , due to the complex interior mechanics and densely packed ammo .
6 . 5 , 7 . 62 , 5 . 56… they all have their positives and negatives . you train to the limitations of your gear and adjust tactics to suit . more to the point , caseless ammunition has the benefit , ( for those who want to control ammunition availability ) , of not being readily reloaded without seriously expensive machinery . forget being able to tweak custom loads , forget being able to reload for fun and savings , forget access to inexpensive reloading supplies .
sorry for bump : d but caseless ammo are chrome & chrome spec force pc games , kinda strange because ammo are bassed on real life you know 9mm 12 slug gauge etc .
there was also vbr car ( caseless ammunition rifle ) and car - 2 , designed around 1990 , a response to the h & k g11 . the car had a 120 round magazine and the car - 2 had a 75 round magazine . can ' t seem to find much info on them though but a couple of pictures .
the current us small arms program is lsat . lightweight small arms technologies . iirc the primary aim is to decrease the weight of both weapon and ammunition . they are looking into both telescoped and caseless ammunition to achieve this . they aren ' t abiding by any contemporary ammunition or weapon standards . it appear that they are looking at eventually developing a round similar to the 6 . 5mm grendel . the adoption of the more powerful round will probably see a return to a rifle / gpmg pairing sharing a common round that would take the roles of the service rifle , dmr , lmg , and mmg roles currently all filled by separate weapons and two different rounds . it looks as though that currently 5 . 56mm and 7 . 62mm ct rounds are being developed for short - term adoption into existing weapon systems , while the 6 . 5mm ct round is being developed for future weapons .
wonder , those nickel / aluminum hybrid cases that were shown off before . what’s the weight savings of those vs caseless ammo , and is it even really needed now with current conflicts ?
in 1986 , australia arms - maker , armtech began work on a caseless assault rifle , similar to the g11 , the c30r , but fired a caseless 5 . 56mm round . hastily rushed in prototype stage before the kinks were worked out on this bullpup rifle resulted in an explosion during a public demonstration . this sealed the fate of the caseless rifle and the armtech company . the basic design resurfaced in the 1990 ' s as the basis for a conventional 5 . 56mm bullpup rifle called the m17s manufactured by bushmaster in 1994 and was hauled in 2005 .
plus much of the recoil , size , and weight advantages of a smaller round like 5 . 56mm would be retained through advances in weapons and ammunition technology .
the greatest weakness and road block preventing the wife scale adoption of caseless ammunition is the fragile nature of the propellant casing . during testing of the g11 , h & k ran across issues associated with testers simply handling the ammunition . the propellant would crack and rupture during simple handling by the oily or dirty hands of soldiers . this corrupted the propellant block causing misfiring of the weapon or even cock - off the ammo . which is one of the reason that paper cartridges were replaced with metal casings over a hundred years ago .
if i were in charge of ammunition development for it , i would seek a pct solution with a lighter bullet in the 200 - 250 grain range , and i would emphasize development of chemical energy rounds and heavy armor piercing rounds for that caliber as well , to give it capability well above that of standard inert small arms ammunition .
heckler & koch made a prototype years ago that was called the g11 . it ' s main advantage was the three round burst mode , in which the company three rounds would go off before recoil would register . another example is the lsat , a light machinegun .
for the basic infantry rifle nothing changes , except that you have increased range and more consistent terminal effectiveness ( lethality ) . for the gpmg , however , you have substantially cut the weight and bulk of the ammunition . add polymer links and you save even more weight . linked 7 . 62 mm ammunition is what has particularly increased combat weight burdens .
i need to re - watch the 5th element and see if the zr - 1 is mentioned to be casless . it could be caseless . . . the zr1 is getting a special place in a upcoming blogpost
h & k also sent a few g11k2s to the united states to demonstrate caseless technology for the us army ' s advanced combat rifle program in the late 1980 ' s that was exploring options for a next - gen replacement for the colt m16a2 . then suddenly in 1990 , the g11 program was scrapped and caseless weaponry was cast back into dark times . so , what happened to the g11 if it met with such praise ?
the initial calibre and ballistics of lsat were chosen to match the 5 . 56x45 ss109 / m855 for comparison purposes but , more recently , a 7 . 62mm lsat has been demonstrated whch matches the performance of the 7 . 62x51 while reducing the weight by 33 % ( 39 % in mg belts because of the plastic links used ) . however , it appears that consideration is being given to developing an intermediate calibre cartridge which might replace both the 5 . 56mm and the 7 . 62mm , with funding continuing at a low level to pursue this .
who honestly cares that some morons decided during ww1 that hollow point ammunition was too deadly ? is that not the entire point ? to say anything to the contrary is simply disingenuous .
that is going to have to be some plastic case , able to withstand freezing combat and broiling combat while functioning in a weapon burning hot with use . then again it is the next logical step other than caseless .
from 1845 - 1847 , several inventors fielding metallic cartridges that further fused the powder , projectile , and now , primer into one more weather - resistant package , spelling the end of the paper ' caseless ' cartridge .
• results for lsat : – squads employing the lsat ct light machine gun ( lmg ) [ and m4a1 + ] had increases in lethality during short and long range engagements , improvements in speed of engagement and shot placement . – soldiers attributed better mobility to the machine gun’s reduced size and weight in comparison to the current m249 – weight and recoil reduction provide more precise fires on the objective particularly when ar gunners are firing from standing and kneeling positions – automatic riflemen were able to move quicker because of the lighter weight , with a positive impact on key ar missions
dmrs and snipers share ammunition with vehicles and saw gunners . after 15 + years of fighting in afghanistan we solve the problem of being outranged by afghan hill fighters with ww2 machine guns .
textron systems has a long , proven history as a designer and manufacturer of armament and ammunition technologies , having been involved in many army small arms development programs over the past 50 years . the lsat has undergone military utility assessment ( mua ) with the u . s . army maneuver battle lab , evaluation with u . s . special operations command , and completed the dismounted non - network enabled limited objective experiment with the u . s . army capabilities integration center ( arcic ) .
in the early 1970 ' s , the soviet union developed a pistol that fired a 7 . 62mm caseless rounds for a high - capacity ( 48 rounds ) pistol . there are few sources in english available about the vag - 73 , however , according to one website , the pistol was a testbed , select - fire , and could be closer to a gryojet gun instead of a true caseless pistol . nothing really came of the vag - 73 .
hi william how could you forget about the russian grenade launchers family ? urltoken urltoken those grenades are single piece of warhead and propellant . those weapons are probably the only fully - deployed caseless small arm in the modern time . yoel
for the most part , the introduction of rifles in the new mg calibres seems to have been to simplify ammunition supply arrangements , rather than because the smaller calibre rifles were felt to be ineffective .
one cartridge worth its own paragraph was the spanish 7 . 92x40 cetme model 53 . the ammunition was designed by dr gunther voss , a german ballistician working for cetme . he wanted to combine a
also the same company vbr - belgium / guy named rik van bruaene , designed a couple of caseless smgs called casmg ( caseless ammunition sub - machinegun ) and vbr m . g . 91 , a caseless bullpup smg . both created in 1991 . also before the h & k g11 , there was the mauser g11 .
the mauser g11 origin : west germany date : 1960s caliber : 4 . 75mm caseless although heckler & koch are often credited with creating the “g11” series of weapons , it was in fact mauser who was originally tasked with creating it . this was during the late 1960’s , and the result of their efforts was this rifle . it was fed through an internal 10 - round magazine , fitted in the buttstock . nato trials found many discrepancies in the mauser g11’s overly - complex mechanism and the project was handed over to heckler & koch in the 1970s , who went on to make many different g11 prototypes , including a rifle , a light machine gun , and a pistol . the g11 project was finally cancelled after communism collapsed ; with no soviet threat , the g11 was deemed unnecessary and the funding for it disappeared .
the national defense industry association has released the powerpoint presentations from 2016 armament systems forum , including kori phillips’ update on the cased telescoped small arms systems ( ctsas ) program , which is the successor to the well - known lightweight small arms technologies program ( lsat ) . of special note in the presentation is the program’s decision to explore ( and , to an extent , promote ) the 6 . 5mm caliber as a viable option for ct configuration next - generation ammunition . there is quite a lot that could be discussed about this , but i’d like to focus on two pieces of information given to us by the presentation , those being the effective ranges and the weight cited for the 6 . 5mm ct ammunition , shown by the slides below :
casless ammunition weapons have become an element in sci - fi works when a author wishes to keep the bullet , but needs to make them futuristic . ushering this trend in science fiction was none other than the film
also , i looked at the system weight with 800rds for the lmg , and still came up with a 12lb lsat lmg . the saw weighs a lot more than 12lbs . more in the 20 - 22lb range , depending on the model ( para vs m249e2 ) . i’m seeing all kinds of numbers for the pip saw .
or that caseless weapons high capacity allowing for soldiers to not to suffer frequent magazine changes . one of the big errors about the morita iii , besides the bulk , was the size of the bullet , 10x50mm . wtf ? the standard 5 . 56 nato round is 45mm in case length , and the heavier 7 . 62 nato is 51mm in case length , and the g11 round was 4 . 73x33mm . so , why the hell is the morita iii caseless round 50mm in length ? bad research most likely .
i did some research and development into caseless propellant in the late 80 ' s to mid 90 ' s and has some firearm designs based upon my work . caseless ammunition isn ' t dead because it ' s a bad idea . it ' s just because there are several technical problems that cannot be overcome using conventional propellants . i overcame these problems by changing the nature of how modern smokeless propellants work but the powers that be just didn ' t want to invest any more time or effort a new ideas . they just spent enough money for no appreciable gain and wanted to move on . lately i decided to revive my work by adapting the formulations for 3d printing and i hope to have something working within the next year .
everything you just said can be accomplished with 5 . 7x28mm , 4 . 6x30mm , and a whole host of other options that aren’t expensive apds ammunition that costs at least $ 1 - $ 2 per round ( given that 5 . 56x45mm m995 ap ammunition that uses the same amount of tungsten carbide costs $ 1 . 44 per round and doesn’t have to deal with sabots which generally raise the price further from what i’ve read ) .
any conventional cartridge - new or existing - would by then almost certainly use some form of lightweight case to bring down the ammunition weight . the current front - runner is a polymer case body with a metal reinforcement at the base to take the stress of extraction . these have been tried before and failed , but the us firms pcp and mac llc are using new technology which they claim will meet military requirements for heavy use in mgs . weight savings won ' t be quite as spectacular as with lsat , but they will still be well worth having .
meanwhile the u . s . army completed development of a new lsat ( lightweight small arms technology ) 5 . 56mm machine - gun in 2012 . but this new machine - gun was tested using two types of lightweight ammo and it wasn’t until now that one of those lightweight ammo designs reached the point where it was ready for combat testing . the lsat machine - gun weighs 4 . 27 kg ( 9 . 4 pounds ) compared to 8 kg for the current m249 . moreover , the ammo for the new machine - gun is 37 percent lighter as well . thus the new machine - gun , with 1 , 000 rounds of ammo , weighs 13 . 9 kg ( 30 . 6 pounds ) , which is 40 percent less than an m249 with a thousand rounds . moreover , the new ammo takes up twelve percent less space . developers are working on caseless 5 . 56mm ammo that will take up 40 percent less space .
in early 2012 eight lsat machine - guns and 100 , 000 rounds of the telescoped ammo were delivered for army troops to actually use and passed field tests . at this point it became possible to use the same technology for a new assault rifle . while lsat passed muster with the troops and the realities of use in a combat zone by 2012 most of the fighting was over . the new machine - gun will be much appreciated by infantry operating in afghanistan , where the machine - gunner is often lugging his weapon and all that ammo up steep hills . but back home there was less enthusiasm , and money , for a new generation of assault rifle and light machine - gun .
us army has for several years been funding the lightweight small arms technologies ( lsat ) development programme , with the aim of halving the weight of the current 5 . 56 mm m249 ( fn minimi ) lmg and its ammunition . the aai corporation ( now textron ) is the lead contractor for the project and is responsible for the gun design . two different cartridge designs have been tested , shown below in comparison with existing rounds . one is a polymer - cased telescoped round ( by ares ) now in
spiral 3
- the third generation , the other a caseless round ( by atk ) based on hk g11 technology . the caseless rounds save 38 % in volume , and weigh 6 . 3g each compared with c . 12 . 2g for the m855 to give overall weight savings of 51 % ( due to the lighter plastic belt links ) . the plastic - cased spiral 3 rounds are 40mm long by 11 . 4mm in diameter and save just 13 % in volume , and weigh 8 . 3g . they save 41 % in weight in mg belts compared with m855 belts , due to the plastic links which weigh 0 . 5g compared with 2 . 0g for the steel links . total weight of a 200 - round belt of spiral 3 ammunition is 1 . 76kg compared with 2 . 84kg for m855 .
in the beginning the army called together some of its small arms manufacturers , gave them some money , and told them to come up with a much lighter 5 . 56mm light machine - gun . in effect , replace the m249 with the lsat . “start from scratch” the weapons wonks were told . the only constant were the caliber of the weapon ( 5 . 56mm ) and the troop handling of the lsat should be roughly the same as the m249 . the goal was to greatly reduce the 17 . 41 kg ( 38 . 3 pounds ) the m249 , and 600 rounds of ammo , weighs . this is what a machine - gun armed soldier usually has to carry into combat .
what was on display was the lsat ( lightweight small arms technologies ) program , which has been in development by aai and picatinny / jssap for a number of years . this is a program that ' s been publicly discussed before , but recently passed some high - volume testing and is getting a lot closer to potential real - world use .
despite the domination of the 5 . 56mm nato round ( in much of the world ) and the kalashnikov family ( in the rest ) , experiments with new assault rifle and ammunition concepts have of course continued , even with the occasional competition being held . some of the experiments have been with conventional ammunition , others have been more exotic . germany produced an interesting - looking 6 . 5x43 round in the early 1960s , but only for ballistic testing .
the lsat lmg itself is reported to have recoil that is
almost non - existent
, and a single - shot capability . both characteristics , if true , would be extremely favorable for its use as an individual weapon and not just as a traditional mg . the low - recoil characteristic would be promising for performance when upscaling to larger calibers .
no worries . i ' m very impressed with the progress the lsat / ctsas program has made , but worried that it might go too far , and the end - user will end up with a whizz - bang undercooked product , or end up losing the legitimate gains of the program as part of a larger overreaction to it ' s detriments .
up until the 2010 release of call of duty : black ops , the g11 was widely unknown by the general public , especially by the newer generations . of course , it ' s appearance in black ops is completely out of context with the historical framework of the game and the game gun model is too small . in some ways , because of black ops , the story of the g11 now has a happy ending of sorts , this caseless rifle is fighting across live , popping caseless rounds for hit markers , and making final kill - cams .
yes , you are correct . the common usage of the term
sabot
is used for tank ammunition . during the research phase of this blogpost , i came across the usage of the term
sabot
for the projectile that was encased in the propellant . most of the usages of sabot in that way came from german records on the development of the h & k g11 ammunition . after your comment , i decided that i will not use the term sabot in that manner .
undertake by three companies united under the ghgs umbrella : heckler & koch would be building the gun itself , while dynamit nobel worked on the caseless ammo , and hensoldt / wetzlar constructed the 1x optical sight . given the high rate of fire coupled with caseless ammo , h & k had their work cut out for them , to solve this issue , the g11 ' s rotary breech rotate the square - shaped ammunition 90 degree to the correct position for firing from the stick magazine , similar to the fn p90 . the magazine itself , extended from the barrel , all the way to the action that was in the rear of the weapon , making the magazine nearly the same length has the g11 rifle itself ! the length of the magazine , and how soldier would carry them on the battlefield was one of the early concerns from the german army .
the g11 pdw and it ' s cutdown round were not entire killed after 1990 . some sources have connected h & k ' s current pdw , the mp7 and it ' s specialized 4 . 6x30mm hv round has being descended from the g11 pdw . could have the mp7 be a window into what the g11 pdw would have been like if approved and fully funded ? included these known variants , i turned up several mentions of a caseless 25mm auto - cannon round for ifv / apc vehicles . along sniper variant that would have used specially formulated caseless propellant and possibly even a special sabot size .
more recently , small - calibre high - velocity pdw ammunition has emerged ( described in more detail in this article ) . the fn 5 . 7x28 has achieved some sales , in both the five - seven pistol and the p90 smg , as has the rival hk 4 . 6x30 in the mp7 . however , despite their improved range performance , these cartridges only develop around 500 joules so don ' t qualify as assault rifle ammunition . the chinese 5 . 8x21 dap - 92 is even less powerful .
sad thing is , we always feel burned by the last war we fought and in the name of continuous improvement seek for radical changes . the next war will be urban and our soldiers will be wondering “why do we need this 6 . 5 caseless stuff ? ? give me a 9mm sub - gun” .
grammar was never my strong suite , however research was , and i ' m very glad you enjoyed the blogpost . caseless ammo need a complete a resource on the internet , and that has been the mission of fws from day one . . . being a resource for writers of military sci - fi .
now , i do not have a hand in laser designators , water canteens , gps systems , body armor , and other pieces of the soldier’s kit , but i do comment on small arms and their ammunition , which are a significant part of that kit .
caseless rounds have an advantage when zero residual presence is required during black operations , like specops units operating in iran and pakistan . normally , these units would be using indigenous firearms , like the ak - 47 to lessen their presence . caseless weapons would offer these black ops missions the ability to use the weapons they are familiar with and not leave any tell - tale brass . most have said that caseless rounds are more environmental friendly , decreasing the need for mining and brass rusting in the field . it as also been said that by ditching the cartridge , that the g11 would require less cleaning than a traditional assault rifle and no need for lefty or righty models . speaking of the g11 , it ' s unique tri - burst of 4 . 73mm rounds and not needing to eject spent brass , made the weapon fire at 2 , 200 rpm that was more controlled , allowing more center - mass hits to defend body armor .
the closest to adoption of all of the exotics was the caseless cartridge , in the form of the heckler & koch g11 rifle . it was actually about to be adopted by the german army to replace the 7 . 62mm g3 ( germany never having adopted the 5 . 56mm nato ) when the cold war ended and the berlin wall came down . military re - equipment spending promptly halted . h & k were financially ruined by the cancellation of the g11 and temporarily fell into the hands of royal ordnance , where they earned their keep by sorting out the long - running problems of the british army ' s sa - 80 rifle , but that ' s another story . in 2002 , hk were taken back into german ownership . caseless 5 . 56mm rounds had also been experimentally developed around 1970 in the usa , and the austrian firm of voere even managed to sell some commercial caseless rifles in various calibres but these are no longer offered .