N-Philes

July is typically a slow month in the world of gaming. After all, there aren't any major conventions, releases are slow, and developers are working at finishing games for the holiday season. This month, however, the industry was brimming with activity. Much of the energy came late in the month as everybody scrambled off the heels of a surprising announcement made by the Entertainment Software Association, better known as the guys who run E3.

That announcement, if you don't know by now, is that E3 as we've known it for over ten years is dead. While not cancelled, the event would be scaled back by 90% and hosted in July. Nobody knows for sure who was responsible for transforming E3, but there are reasons aplenty both for and against the change. Some say that it takes too much time while offering up little reward, others agree that it's a great social setting for everyone involved, while at the same time putting the industry in the mainstream spotlight. Rumor has it that EA and other third parties threatened to pull out of the event. EA, along with Nintendo, are among the first companies that have already confirmed plans to attend the downscaled event, dubbed "E3 Media Festival," next year.

Business Week published a list of the top 100 global brands. Af far as the big three are concerned, Microsoft came at number 2 in just behind Coca-Cola, Sony ranked in at number 26, and Nintendo at number 51. Interestingly, the magazine commented on how the Wii could be a hard sell. This seems to contradict that fact that many third parties are scrambling to support the Wii after it's successful E3 showing. Companies like Gearbox and Take-Two have announced support for the platform, EA has increased its support, and N-Space has expanded its studios for Wii and DS development. By contrast, Business Week did comment on the success of the DS, which broke 10 million units in Japan and 21 million worldwide last month. On the heels of a better-than-expected fiscal quarter, Nintendo's stocks saw a jump in price; they are currently worth over twice as much as they were at this point last year.

Gaming analysts usually can't keep their mouths shut about their industry predictions, but considering how many more predictions they've been making of late, they must have been using other orifices to keep up. While many of these predictions just seem to be there to cover their bases, analysts as a whole seem to think that Nintendo will do really well over the next generation. To gear up, Nintendo has begun advertising the Wii in print and over the internet in the hopes of keeping it fresh in people's minds. To keep developers thinking, rumor has it that Nintendo has shipped out an unknown number of free development kits. ATI and PixArt, the companies respectively responsible for the Wii's graphics chip and Wii Remote sensor, have both ramped up production in anticipation of the Wii launch. Does this mean that Nintendo had begun Wii manufacturing? CNN Money seems to think so. In a somewhat related development, Nintendo has ceased production of the original DS (endearingly called "DS Phat") in Japan, seeing as its sales have dropped dramatically in light of its sleek redesign.

July has flared up tons rumors about the Wii's launch date. Everybody wants to be the source who guessed it right. Even Nintendo played with the anticipation, suggesting that one of their press releases might have contained the secret. If you look hard enough, you'll find speculation for practically every day from the start of the Tokyo Games Show in late September up until Black Friday at the end of November. Speaking of TGS, Nintendo will not be present at the show, which while not surprising, is interesting to note because it's where Satoru Iwata unveiled Wii's controller last year. Considering that America had E3 and Europe will have the Leipzig Games Convention to get to know the Wii, it's odd that the Wii won't get a convention showing in Japan before its release. Does this mean Nintendo will have all kinds of tours across its native country? Probably.

In an effort to stave off the impending death of the Game Boy line, Nintendo announced that five GBA games were added as Player's Choice titles. Pushing the DS, the company announced that Japan will be getting an inexpensive earpiece for the handheld, complete with a microphone. In order to quell the backlash against cracked DS hinges, Nintendo of America said that they will (reluctantly) replace any cosmetically damaged units, an affliction that affects about 0.02% of systems.

And as the month closed, one last tidbit of Wii info made it to the wire. It was announced to the delight of many a gamer's heart that Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima will be designing Solid Snake's stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though no other information on the title or the "newcomer" Snake was revealed.

Releases

As earlier stated, the summer is a slow month for game releases. In North America, Atlus was a gamer's savior with the releases of Battle B-Daman and Summon Knight: Swordcraft Story for the GBA. Other than that, Monster House and The Ant Bully saw their obligatory movie-game tie-ins on GameCube, DS, and GBA.

Europe wasn't much better off. Notable releases over on that side of the pond included Big Brain Academy, Electroplankton, Cars, and Alex Rider Stormbreaker for the DS.

And then there's Japan, where all kinds a plethora of games were relewased. GameCube owners were treated to Battle Stadium D.O.N., a multi-license fighting game that broke into the top ten for a couple of weeks. Nintendo entertained the GBA crowd with seven stylish, budget titles that fall under the name Bit Generations. Appealing largely to the long-time gamer, these simple games use a presentation that pays tribute to the NES (or rather Famicom) days. They might have even convinced people to crack open that second slot on the DS Lites.

That system shows no signs of slowing down in the land of the rising sun. Last month, gamers lined up like crazy for the Noble Pink DS Lite. In terms of games, the DS saw the first party releases of Mario Basket 3-On-3, the Nintendo DS Browser, Talking! DS Cooking Navigation, and Project Hacker. Other notable releases include: Tamagotchi Connection 2, Mushi King 2, Everyone's DS: English Seminar, Everyone's DS: Kanji Seminar, Touch! Bomberman Land, Crash Bang Boom!, Naruto RPG 3, and Mega Man ZX. Members of the Japan-only Club Nintendo were able to redeem system points for a rare, limited DS compilation of dual-screened Game & Watch games, appropriately called Game & Watch Collection.

Month in Preview: August 2006

August is synonymous with one game: Madden. You'll be able to play the centuries-old videogame on any and every platform, with Wii (and PS3) versions coming later in the year. If virtual pigskins aren't your thing, you can always pick up Pac-Man World Rally, One Piece Grand Adventure, or Backyard Baseball 2007 for the GameCube. If you're planning a last-minute vacation, maybe you can pick up Deep Labyrinth, Star Fox Command, Konductra, or Cooking Mama for the DS? Those wanting the Nintendo-published Tenchu: Dark Secret will only be able to pick it up at EB games.

This last month of summer brings us ever so close to Wii's launch. Interestingly, Nintendo will be giving a presentation at the Leipzig Games Convention titled "Wii Prove Our Promise." Five new Wii titles are expected to be playable at the LGC, which runs from the 23rd to the 27th. For those in Scotland, Nintendo is a sponsor of the Edinburgh Interactive Enterainment Festival, held on the 21st and 22nd of August.