2006 In Video Gaming

EVENTS

January 26 2006 -- Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite . The new model is lighter, smaller, has configurable brightness and features an improved User Interface . (Nintendo) (GameSpot)

'', and covering multiple platforms. (TeamXbox)

January 26 2006 -- Public schools in West Virginia will add '' Dance Dance Revolution '' by Konami to their curriculum, in an effort to combat Obesity . (Reuters) (GameSpot)

January 27 2006 -- Players of the Horde Clan from '' World Of Warcraft '' start the ''"Gamers Against No Kash"'' charity, to pay the subscription fees for valuable players strapped for cash. (Gameshout)

January 27 2006 -- Microsoft of Japan made a statement to Japanese game magazine Famitsu regarding the Xbox 360 launch. "''It was a lot more difficult than we had imagined. We couldn't prepare the launch titles that we had promised, and it made an impact,''" said Microsoft of Japan Xbox chief of operations Yoshihiro Maruyama . At the launch of the first Xbox in Japan, more units were sold in three days than have been sold of the Xbox 360 in one month. (Gamasutra)

January 27 2006 -- The PlayStation Portable 2.01-2.50 Firmware versions, previously considered unhackable, are hacked by Fanjita . (PSP Updates)

January 27 2006 -- The Los Angeles attorney's office sues Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive over the Hot Coffee Mod . (Gamasutra)

January 30 2006 -- A mandatory update for Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 was released. Microsoft claimed the update was for bugfixes and improvements. Members of the Modding community claim that ''"the true purpose of this update was to halt the progress of the modding community"''. (Gamasutra)

'', stating ''"We have isolated the problem and determined that there was a temporary error with the upload tool when this letter was posted"''. Earlier, there had been speculation that the tulips were a result of Black Hat Hackers . (Gamasutra)

January 31 2006 -- Sony is reportedly building a Xbox Live -killer for the PlayStation 3 . (Joystiq)

January 31 2006 -- StarForce , a DRM maker for computer games, threatens to sue popular weblog Boing Boing for criticising its products. (Gamasutra) , (Boing Boing)

January 31 2006 -- Blizzard Entertainment responds to the GLBT debate happening in '' World Of Warcraft ''. The company stated: "''To promote a positive game environment for everyone and help prevent such harassment from taking place as best we can, we prohibit mention of topics related to sensitive real-world subjects in open chat within the game, and we do our best to take action whenever we see such topics being broadcast.''" (Edge)

January 31 2006 -- Sony announces that ten servers will be merged with ten others on '' Everquest 2 ''. Players are cautiously optimistic. (Sony) , (Darniaq)

See February 2006 In Video Gaming , March 2006 In Video Gaming

Business

January 5 2006 -- Vivendi Universal Games acquires High Moon Studios (formerly Sammy Studios, Inc), which gained independence from Sammy in 2005. (Prnewswire)

January 9 2006 -- Take-Two Interactive acquires Irrational Games . (Shacknews)

January 26 2006 -- Sony reports that strong sales of the PlayStation Portable helped the company make a profit of 70 billion yen, the first time in 11 years that the company has managed to avoid an annual loss. (Herald Tribune) (Financial Times)

January 26 2006 -- Microsoft announces $293 million losses in its Home and Entertainment division, record revenues overall. (Gamasutra)

January 26 2006 -- Nintendo reports declining Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance sales but increased profits: Yen92.2 billion. (GameCpot)

'', '' Super Mario Strikers '', '' Brain Training For Adults '' and '' Mario Kart DS '', all published by Nintendo . (Media Create)

n 360 launch from March 2 to March 23 , 2006 due to a "short term manufacturing challenge" . (Gamasutra)

January 30 2006 -- Shares of Take-Two Interactive , the Controversial creator of the ''Grand Theft Auto'' Series , rose Monday after news that the company was in takeover talks with an unnamed buyer. ( Yahoo) , (Marketwatch) , (TTWO Stock Chart)

January 31 2006 -- CNET reports that Cisco Systems might be interested in buying Nintendo . (CNET) , (GameDaily.biz)

May - IEMA ( Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association ) successfully merged with VSDA (Video Software Dealers Association) to form combined organization EMA ( Entertainment Merchants Association )

July – ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) formed.

October – ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) soft-launched.

Notable releases

TRENDS

Video game consoles

Microsoft Xbox & Xbox 360

Nintendo GameCube

Sony PlayStation 2

Additionally, the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii were released on November 17 and November 19, respectively.

Handheld game systems

Nintendo DS / Nintendo DS Lite

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance SP / Game Boy Micro

Sony's PlayStation Portable

Video game sales

Ten best-selling PC games of 2006: {Link without Title}

1) World Of Warcraft

3) The Sims 2

6) Age Of Empires III

7) Civilization IV

9) Guild Wars Factions

10) Zoo Tycoon 2

Ten best-selling PS2 games of 2006: {Link without Title}

1) Madden NFL 07

2) Kingdom Hearts II

3) Guitar Hero

4) Final Fantasy XII

5) NCAA Football 07

6) Guitar Hero II

10) Fight Night Round 3

Ten best-selling PS3 games of 2006: {Link without Title}

2) Madden NFL 07

3) Call Of Duty 3

5) Ridge Racer 7

7) Tony Hawk's Project 8

8) NBA 2K7

9) NBA 07

Ten best-selling Xbox games of 2006: {Link without Title}

1) Madden NFL 07

2) Black

3) NCAA Football 07

6) Fight Night Round 3

7) Major League Baseball 2K6

10) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Ten best-selling Xbox 360 games of 2006: {Link without Title}

1) Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

2) Madden NFL 07

3) Gears Of War

5) Fight Night Round 3

6) Saints Row

7) Dead Rising

8) NCAA Football 07

9) Call Of Duty 3

Ten best-selling GameCube games of 2006: {Link without Title}

1) Sonic Riders

4) Cars

5) Madden NFL 07

8) Over The Hedge

10) Teen Titans

Ten best-selling Wii games of 2006: {Link without Title}

2) Red Steel

4) Rayman Raving Rabbids

5) Call Of Duty 3

6) Madden NFL 07

9) Excite Truck

Ten best-selling DS games of 2006: {Link without Title}

1) New Super Mario Bros.

2) Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team

4) Metroid Prime Hunters

5) Super Princess Peach

6) Big Brain Academy

7) Tetris DS

8) Nintendogs

9) Mario Hoops 3-on-3

10) Pokémon Ranger

REFERENCES

{Link without Title}

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