It's been another week, so let's take a look at how our platforms are doing on the Japanese markets, once again care of Media Create. The hardware chart shows strong performance this time around, with the PS3 getting a sales boost. Note that this sales strength cannot be attributed to Black Friday - they don't have that in Japan.

How many articles about bad economy and suffering publishers have you read on QJ in the past two months? I lost count. That's because it's undeniable - the gaming industry in in the toilet, praying not to be flushed. Take-Two's Chief exec, Strauss Zelnick, describes the current situation to be so bad, that "being slightly down is the new up."

An unfortunate event on Black Friday has occurred at a Wal-Mart branch in Long Island, New York. One worker was killed while at least four other people were injured. Sales are great , but there's no need to go rushing mad. Read up the story at the full article.

Did you think Amazon was going to leave you (and your wallet) to slog through the press of holiday shoppers at your local retail stores? Hardly. The full article contains the list of goodies available for Amazon's Black Friday Sale.

Black Friday's coming again and we know it's always a great way to overspend with unbelievable deals. Red Octane is not about to miss out on the action - they're going on sale early. See what they've got in store for the hungry gamer in the full article.

November 28 is Black Friday and the official start of the Christmas Season. What goodies does GameStop have for all the good little boys and girls? Well, thanks to a leaked catalog we can have a looksee.

GameStop has just released a series of promos for this Black Friday. The promo includes several deals you'll want to look over, such as an offer for the Crimson-and-Black DS Lite. More details on GameStop's adverts are available in the full article.

Still don't know what to get on Black Friday? Amazon offers a lot of gaming goodies on ridiculous discounts, and what's more, they've got an ample supply of the Wii as well. Read on to get more details and pricing information for Amazon's Black Friday deals.

In the classic Christmas film "It's a Wonderful Life" Zuzu Bailey says "Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings." But in stores and malls everywhere, every time the cash register goes cha-ching a sale is made. For GameStop, the recent holiday shopping spree sent its cash register ringing to the tune of more than US$ 1.7 billion.

That's over US$ 1.7 billion made within the nine week period, beginning Black Friday, where everyone seems to be afflicted with the shopping madness.

GameStop says some of the sales were generated by the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. But it was definitely the year of the DS with 918,000 units sold in November.

On the game side, GameStop listed the following titles as best-selling items:

• Gears of War
• Final Fantasy XII
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Guitar Hero II
  
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According to GameStop digits, total holiday sales in 2006 was up by a full 29% compared to 2005. And that, we suppose, is the best gift GameStop got for Christmas.

We've already been reporting on the recent success that Nintendo's been picking on their DS console, and while we've yet to figure in how big an impact their Wii will have in the long run, we have been wondering: just how much is Nintendo worth this time around?

In a nutshell: If all goes well for Mario's home company, Nintendo's net profit will be worth a total of US$ 862 million by the end of the year, at least according to Nintendo's financial report, published on October 26 this year.

Also noted in the report is their expectations for next year, which seems to indicate their faith in the Wii's success even before launch: forecasts for March 2007 indicate an expected net sales of US $6.378 billion. Quoting the report:

In order to expand gaming population in the console business as well, Nintendo will aim to popularize "Wii" (the latest video gaming console to be launched at the end of the calendar year) as an "everyday-use gaming device for all the family" allowing the new emergence of gaming console inseparable from daily lives, under the concept of "brand new days with Wii". As for handheld gaming market, Nintendo will continue to strive to gain more popularity with an expansion in software lineup by launching new types of games that expand user base such as "Touch! Generations" as well as easy accessible games to challenging games in due proportion.

Think of this as a show of optimism on Nintendo's part, with that fat a profit expected by March, we'll just have to wait and see how things will really turn out for their recently launched Wii. All we need now's a financial report from Sony and Microsoft for a better perspective. Rememeber: Wii, US$ 250; DS, (As of Black Friday) US$ 100.00; Nintendo (as of March 2007) US$ 6.378 billion, SmashymyWii: Priceless. For full details, read up on the source document.