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)
• January 26 2006 -- Konami Corp. announces the list of titles it expects to ship in 2006, ranging from Beatmania to Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, 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)
• January 30 2006 -- Nintendo released a statement regarding the Red Tulip phenomenon on Animal Crossing: Wild World, 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 LGBT 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)
• January 27 2006 -- The Nintendo DS returns to the top of the weekly Japanese charts, with 64,515 units sold compared to 38,271 for the PlayStation Portable. The PlayStation 2 is third with 26,135 units sold, while the Xbox 360 continues to sell poorly (just 3,616, less than the GameCube). The five best-selling games were Brain Training for Adults 2, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Super Mario Strikers, Brain Training for Adults and Mario Kart DS, all published by Nintendo. (Media Create)
• January 27 2006 -- Microsoft lowers its estimate of Xbox 360 sales in its first 90 days from 2.75-3.0 million units to 2.5 million due to supply shortage. The yearly estimate (4.5 to 5.5 million) is unchanged since Microsoft plans to increase its console production with the help of a new manufacturer, Celestica. (TeamXbox) Meanwhile, Microsoft postpones the Australian 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 and Xbox 360
• Nintendo GameCube
• Sony PlayStation 2
• Additionally, the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii were released on November 11 and November 19, respectively.

Handheld game consoles

• Nintendo DS / Nintendo DS Lite
• Nintendo's Game Boy Advance SP / Game Boy Micro
• Sony's PlayStation Portable

Video game sales

1. World of Warcraft
2. The Sims 2: Open for Business
3. The Sims 2
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Star Wars: Empire at War
6. Age of Empires III
7. Civilization IV
8. The Sims 2: Nightlife
9. Guild Wars Factions
10. Zoo Tycoon 2

Ten best-selling PS2 games of 2006:

1. Madden NFL 07
2. Kingdom Hearts II
3. Guitar Hero
4. Final Fantasy XII
5. NCAA Football 07
6. Guitar Hero II
7. MLB 06: The Show
8. Scarface: The World is Yours
9. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
10. Fight Night Round 3

Ten best-selling PS3 games of 2006:

1. Resistance: Fall of Man
2. Madden NFL 07
3. Call of Duty 3
4. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
5. Ridge Racer 7
6. Need for Speed: Carbon
7. Tony Hawk's Project 8
8. NBA 2K7
9. NBA 07
10. Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

Ten best-selling Xbox games of 2006:

1. Madden NFL 07
2. Black
3. NCAA Football 07
4. MVP 06: NCAA Baseball
5. The Godfather: The Game
6. Fight Night Round 3
7. Major League Baseball 2K6
8. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
9. Scarface: The World is Yours
10. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Ten best-selling Xbox 360 games of 2006:

1. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
2. Madden NFL 07
3. Gears of War
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Fight Night Round 3
6. Saints Row
7. Dead Rising
8. NCAA Football 07
9. Call of Duty 3
10. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Ten best-selling GameCube games of 2006:

1. Sonic Riders
2. Naruto: Clash of Ninja
3. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
4. Cars
5. Madden NFL 07
6. Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2
7. Rampage: Total Destruction
8. Over the Hedge
9. Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
10. Teen Titans

Ten best-selling Wii games of 2006:

1. Wii Sports'
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
3. Red Steel
4. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
5. Rayman Raving Rabbids
6. Call of Duty 3
7. Madden NFL 07
8. Trauma Center: Second Opinion
9. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
10. Excite Truck

Ten best-selling DS games of 2006:

1. New Super Mario Bros.
2. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
3. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
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

Europe

References