Well, the numbers are all over the place, but one thing is abundantly clear: Nintendo, with the most underpowered and modest hardware/PR campaign, is clearly on top. By far. So much so scrambling for second place has been an ugly, ugly fight between the twin juggernauts of Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo basically smiled its way into first place while the other two were shelling each other with FPS screenshots and venomous statements. Not that they're not taking pot shots at Nintendo now...

Anyhow, the numbers don't lie. For a second, just a quick moment, Nintendo actually surpassed Sony's market value. Sony has sold 1 Million PS3 units in Japan, which according to the same report is more than double the meager 420K Xbox 360's that have sold there. "Oh really? That's nice for you" says Nintendo, chuckling on their way to the bank with huge bags of Yen after having sold their 3 millionth Wii in Japan. So, Sony beat Microsoft 2 to 1, and Nintendo beat Sony 3 to 1. Ouch.

Sony meanwhile remains confident that they can meet their sales goals of 11 million PS3's sold this year, pointing out helpfully that their system should be the logical choice that the Xbox 360's "don't even work!"

Yeah. Wii = money mint. So there. Despite ongoing Wii shortages, reports of increased production of the console may make this a white (and blue LED) Christmas for more people after all!

Well, despite what I mentioned earlier, the rumor train has jumped the tracks again.

It appears that the Xbox 360 has secured an exclusive release of Beautiful Katamari. No wait, it's merely ditched the PS3 and is coming for the Wii? I'm confused. I mean, it'd better come to the Wii. I'm totally not effing around, Namco.

At any rate, the creator of Katamari has announced a new release for the PS3 called Nobi Nobi Boy. What's it all about? Will it be as satisfying as rolling magical balls around after being royally guilt-tripped by your drunken father? We shall see.

A roundup of Wii-related goodies from the last while. To counter the increasingly vibrant Wii-modding scene, the latest batch of Wii consoles in Japan have a modification on a the motherboard that blocks modchips by removing key attachment points. Hackers will undoubtedly come out with a block-proof chip within minutes.

The Wii is also seeing utility as a rehab device. Both Walter Reed Medical Center and a rehab hospital in Edmonton, Canada are using the Wii (most often Wii boxing) to rehabilitate injured patients, alongside other consoles at Walter Reed.

From the nail-in-the-coffin department, while certain US analysts worry that the Wii may have trouble in maintaining its commanding sales lead since the market seems to be with "casual" gamers, I would submit that they're fretting over nothing, since there are waaaaaay more casual gamers out there who own no consoles than diehard fanboys/girls with console addictions out there. Even if they don't buy 3-4 games a month, they're moving consoles, building a brand loyalty base, and joining the online community (nationwide Mii parade?). Plus, the future-telling Japanese markets have spoke: the Wii is outselling the PS3 5:1 in Japan and shows no sign of slowing. Once the Wii finally hooks up with the #1 selling DS Lite... game over.

I had to sit in a slew of doctor's offices lately, where I had the chance to read every magazine I never would read normally. However, one caught my eye, the current issue of Fortune Magaine, which sums up quite nicely how the Wii surprised the heck outta everyone, including two little tech houses called Sony and Microsoft.

In short, it talks about how the Wii won the console wars. So Money magazine, from the deck of the financial publishing aircraft carrier is calling Nintendo as having achieved mission accomplished status.

It's a pretty good article, featuring some cute pix of Shigeru Miyamoto Wii boxing with the article, and sums up the appeal from a marketing standpoint. It also provides a bevy of useful numbers, useful for making PS3 fanboys cry, that is.

Despite all of this, while I continue to enjoy Wii Sports immensely, after having beaten Twilight Princess, I have to say that once I beat Paper Mario I'm anticipating being bored silly for lack of decent Wii games. I still really want to break down and get a 360 ahead of the 60 nm core version since there are a ton of incredible games in its library, and despite all of the fun the Wii is and the well-deserved accolades it's received, uh, where are the 3rd party games?

Anyhow, nice job Reggie!

So THIS is what didn't make the final version:

I mean, the tanks are fun and all, but Seal Hunting would have been fantastic.

Ho. Lee. Crap. Nintendo not only cracked the 10 MILLION mark with Japanese DSL sales, in addition to cleaning up during the "Golden Week" sales rush (a shopping blitz similar to our holiday shopping madness). One of my favorite titles ever, Taiko Drum Master, is expected to see a DS port soon (yay!), and the Rabbids are making a sequel appearance as well. Hell, even classics are money-printers: GBA classic Rhythm Tengoku is being ported to arcades!

And..... on the homebrew scene, the Wii gets a DVD player?

Check out this dude's gramma totally rocking out to Paper Mario on Wii. I don't know which I'm more floored by, the fact that:

a) she swears like a sailor
b) she's really pretty good at the game
c) she's an octogenarian, and she's totally getting down with her Wii!

I mean, check out her website - she rules!

So one half of the team behind the brilliance of Guitar Hero II, Harmonix, is jumping ship (this is old news, not the focus of this post) to start a new venture with industry giants EA and MTV: Rock Band. It'll be a rhythm game, but with drums, singing, guitars... the works.

But how much will it cost? We already know they've signed up Fender as their digi-axe to power the game, which ain't cheap in real life. So, based on this price list, having a full band could be steeeeeeep. Then again, that's Gamestop - Harmonix is trying their best to do damage control, and I hope they're not just spinning. I'd love to get the band back together.

There's a neat contest going on over at Wii News: a sky's-the-limit homebrew dev contest for the Wii and Gamecube. Given all the cool stuff that's happened for the DS, I can't wait to see what ends up popping up on the Wii eventually.

The prize nets you some decent coin to spend on GP2X goodies. Get coding!