It's yet another slow news day for us here at News Pop!, but that doesn't mean we don't have anything to talk about. Today's edition will mark the last of the year 2006, a year that certainly has not been just another regular year in gaming. We've seen everything from hundreds of rumours about new consoles, the release of said consoles, high hopes and major disappointments, trials and their outcomes, and some unfortunate injuries. 2006 was truly a big year for video games, whether it was just in the news or its mass movement into the homes of many non-gamers.

Console Wars

The year started off with a lot of rumours concerning what the new consoles would hold for the next generation of gaming. Coming off of a slow release of the Xbox 360 at the end of 2005, and then the inherent problems that were found with the console (overheating/dead consoles and poor backward compatibility), Microsoft was leaving many gamers severely disappointed. The company did, however, have an advantage in the fact that it had a head start on its competitors, giving it time to fix some of those problems, especially since Sony had postponed its release of the Playstation 3. Sony, in its own right, severely disappointed its own fans by postponing the release, but assured gamers that it would be worth it, not only because the console would be fully prepared upon release, but because it would be able to release in large numbers, both claims everyone now knows to have been false. It seems Nintendo would be the only one to keep to their word, by simply saying that when it was good and ready it would let everyone know about its new console (codenamed Revolution at the time).

Many rumours and questions surrounded what the Revolution would do for gaming, but all was answered when Nintendo finally announced the system's controller. It looked mysteriously like a television remote, completely different from the Xbox 360's traditional gamepad controller and Sony's boomerang/space fighter shaped Playstation 3 controller (later replaced by the SIXAXIS). Nintendo's representatives talked about how the new controller would change how games would be played and how people who never picked up a controller in their life would get into gaming, through enhanced interactivity and intuitive, motion sensitive controls. Rumours would still surround the power of the system until just before its release date, and those who followed the news of the system closely wondered exactly how developers would use the new controls for games, but it was clear that Nintendo had something very different and revolutionary. The codename of Revolution was later changed and finalized as Wii.

Copycats and shortages?

Sony ended up changing the design of the Playstation 3 controller back to the traditional Dual-Shock design, with some minor changes. The bottom shoulder triggers were changed from digital to analog and a Playstation button was added to the centre, as sort of a Home button. The final change was the addition of what Sony called SIXAXIS control. Sony, to this day, denies that the decision to add SIXAXIS control was made after Nintendo introduced the Wii Remote, but no one really believes them. Oddly, Sony says that SIXAXIS control and rumble interfere which each other, which happens to be one of the reasons the controller is no longer called Dual-Shock, even though the Wii Remote is able to have both functions, not to mention full 3D motion control.

Both the Playstation 3 and the Wii released in November, two days apart from each other. Some people waited two days in line for the Playstation 3, while some people were lucky enough to get a pre-order and not have to worry about braving the elements. However, due to blue laser diode shortages, the Sony was unable to meet their original release target and many people, even those with pre-orders went home empty handed. In some places, there were riots and, in a couple, shootings when people found out they couldn't get their hands on the system. Sony had nicely marketed and hyped their system, but didn't deliver numbers. As the year comes to a close though, the hype and demand for the system has seriously dropped. A large number of people who purchased the system in order to sell the system before Christmas returned them to the stores they purchased them from because they were unable to. Two days after the release of the Playstation 3 came the release of the Wii. Nintendo released the console in large numbers, and to their surprise, it wasn't anywhere close enough to meet demand, especially in Canada. The demand for the Wii has continued to rise since its release, and Nintendo can't ship them out fast enough. 2006 has treated Nintendo very well.

Then came the injuries

No more than two days after the release of the Wii, rumours and reports started drifting in of people getting hurt while playing with the system. Worse yet, some people had destroyed their own televisions or other objects in their home while playing. Thanks to the Internet and sites like YouTube, people have been able to show off exactly what's been going wrong and why they, and their things, are getting injured. The main culprit, aside from people simply being foolish and not wearing their Wii Remote's strap, was the fact that the strap's cable was too thin. People were just getting too into their games, especially Wii Sports, and the Remotes would go flying out of their hands, but instead of the strap stopping the Remote from flying any further, it would snap, and the Remote would continue its journey forward, into whatever object lay in its path. Thankfully, Nintendo responded quickly to the problem, ordering an optional recall on all the straps. All people have to do is contact Nintendo support and send in a form in order to receive their new, thicker straps. Also, all new Wii consoles shipped after December 18^th came with the new straps, insuring that the only way another Wii Remote strap would break again is if it was done intentionally. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the damage was already done, and there is talk of class action suits going around. Hopefully, it won't get too out of hand.

Video games blamed for violence yet again

2006 has also become a marker year for anti-gaming lobbyists. Jack Thompson's crusade against Bully, which only ended up getting rated Teen, and the Kimveer Gill incident at Montreal's Dawson College, to name two cases which stuck out particularly in our minds, have been this year's hot topic for people fighting against violence in video game and artistic developers visions everywhere. Incidents like these make us take pause and reflect on what has been created and what is coming in the future, one of the reasons that we had the special feature after the Gill incident, other than the fact that it hit close to home for us. Violence affects us all, but passing the blame to scapegoats only clouds the issue and can lead to artistic vision being quashed.

Goodbye '06

No matter what's happened this year, it's hard to disagree that it's been an interesting one. We hope to not only continue to bring quality reporting to you, but to improve as time goes on. We hope you're enjoyed reading News Pop! and everything else we have to offer here at The Comic Book Bin. From all of us to all of you, Happy New Year!