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!

No way! Grumpy Napster-hatin' rockers Metallica will be featured in Rock Band, and the game will feature full albums of songs along with downloadable content! Full deets at Kotaku. There's also a sweet bundle that's popped up on Amazon.com.

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.

Lots more news lately regarding rock-based-rhythm-games (RBRG, a new genre? anyone?), including the current national obsession Guitar Hero II and the upcoming Guitar Hero III, in addition to the coming EA-backed rival Rock Band.

First off, we've got recently released Rock Band screens and an in-depth interview at IGN. Truthfully, it's hard to tell what the gameplay will be like, but it sure looks pretty.

Meanwhile, to tide us over till GH3, the official site for Guitar Hero: 80's Encore Version, has launched, and more tracks are leaking out to my delight. I personally can't wait, since I'm cracker-trash.

Meanwhile, GH3 details are emerging as well. In addition to wireless guitars, the current tracks announced thus far are:

* "Barracuda" - Heart
* "Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
* "Cult of Personality" - Living Colour
* "Even Flow" - Pearl Jam
* "Knights of Cydonia" - Muse
* "Lay Down" - Priestess
* "The Metal" - Tenacious D
* "My Name Is Jonas" - Weezer
* "Paint It, Black" - The Rolling Stones
* "Rock and Roll All Nite" - Kiss
* "Sabotage" - Beastie Boys
* "School's Out" - Alice Cooper
* "Slow Ride" - Foghat

So, in conclusion, hairspray, big boner axe solo, and kicksplits. Clearly.

Oof. Where to begin on our poor, overpriced, mismarketed, idiot-endorsed PS3. On the positive side, it's still the folding champ, now has an MIT course dedicate to it, and a potentially sweet Killzone 2 public beta on the way, but...

Going right down the line, Japanese developers may be jumping ship to focus on the Wii, sales for the week dipped below 10,000 units to 8,839, Metal Gear Solid 4 is now potentially delayed until 2008, and according to ambiguous language, may be going non-exclusive the 360-way. In less grave matters, Square is now announcing simultaneous of new RPG cash cows, which is better than losing exclusives or missing out altogether, but ooooooooooh how the mighty have (sadly) fallen.

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.

Even though I'm nowhere near beating expert mode on GHII, it's nice to know that III is coming down the pipe, according to this snippet on Joystiq. To learn more about the emerging battle-of-the-band-sims, there's a solid interview with the Guitar Hero team here, with plenty of bits worth pondering as we wonder if EA and MTV's Rock Band will dethrone the current king and sequel-to-king.

I'm just happy I can play the bass part in John the Fisherman. Claypool, I'm comin' for ya.

Man, crazy. Check out the latest batch of sales date from NPD.

In consoles, the DS remains the insane money-printer its always been, but the PS2 is still cleaning the console house, much like they did during last holiday season. Here things are for now, but it'll be interesting to see what happens next month since folks are chomping at the bit for the 360 Elite:

1. Nintendo DS - 508,000
2. PlayStation 2 - 280,000
3. Wii - 259,000
4. Xbox 360 - 199,000
5. PSP - 180,000
6. Game Boy Advance SP - 148,000
7. PlayStation 3 - 130,000

See that waaaaay down at the bottom? Yep. That's the PS3, clocking in behind the GBA with sales. Despite ditching the console no one was buying and downsizing like crazy... they're still really, really lagging. At least they've still got some loyal retards out there that will always represent the "triple" (seriously, this kid is retarded, not to mention a suburban turd that is going to get ripped in half next time he goes downtown).

On the games front, Top 5 style:

1. (PS2) God of War 2 - 833,000
2. (Xbox 360) Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 394,000
3. (Xbox 360) Guitar Hero II - 291,000
4. (Wii) Wii Play - 273,000
5. (PS3) Motorstorm - 199,000

The PS3 barely makes the list, just eeking out Diddy Kong racing (DS) by 10,000 units. Ouch. Note that Wii software sales have slumped a bit (where them games at Reggie?), but it's still pretty silly that Wii Play, a collection of minigames with a free controller, still beats any PS3 title.

But anyhow, it confirms that God of War II is being received as the kick-ass game I found it to be, and gettin' grabbed hand over fist by the loyal PS2 ownership.

Seriously, between Guitar Hero II in HD on the PS2 and God of War II, who needs the PS3?

So despite Namco trying to keep a lid on it, the rumors are flying, and it looks very possible that Katamari and my Wii will unite in what could be the perfect union of the two most happy-inducing electronic gizmo-softs in the history of the world. I predict total world peace, if they ever manufacture enough Wii consoles to get to everyone in the world (or any town/city to start with).

UPDATE: It's official for Xbox 360 and PS3, but still TBA for Wii, almost certainly due to control issues and having to re-write the control scheme from dual analog sticks to Wiimote. But I'm still hopeful. Or perhaps this'll be my reason to pick up a 360 (in addition to the pile of other good reasons to get one... the 360 is totally spanking in the HD gaming wars, as much as I hate to see Micro$oft win and Sony fail, the 360 is a hell of a console when it works).

It's been a fairly predictable couple of weeks in the next-gen horserace. The happy news for Sony was that their UK PS3 went off without a single murder or riot, and shattered sales records... right before dropping like a stone. So what gives there? Well, everyone that wanted one went out and bought them at the same time, which then left a country full of the rest of folks who, like most in the USA, Japan, etc., could care less about owning one. Poor Sony. At least they're winning the format war, sorta.

So what's Sony's take on this? As usual, the numbers clearly have no significance. "Meaningless," they've called it. Um, well, actually, no. You have to sell consoles, not disinformation.

Meanwhile, Nintendo is installing special showerheads that will spray their board members with a constant stream of Yen! The DS has sold a greater number of units than bagels that have been sold in NYC since the dawn of time, and the Wii is still a pretty tough item to find anywhere.

What's up on the Micro$oft front? Well, they're seriously not happy about the Xbox 360 Elite story leak, which baffles me somewhat. I mean, every company (Apple, for one), wants to completely blow the doors off the world with every shocking new release, but in the VG industry where people are constantly buying new hardware, software, and accessories, it's a very good thing to know what's coming down the line. They seemed pretty grumpy about it though:

"For the Elite, for example, people were talking about the functionality and had pictures and all this stuff, but they didn't have the full story. They didn't know the price, they didn't know the accessories, they didn't know additional information that really puts a lot of context and a lot of information behind it..."

But so what? We've got all the facts now. They just seemed a little put off about getting their secret let out.