From August 23-27 in Leipzig, Germany, GC 2006 was pretty hyped up, only I have no idea why. I guess with the extreme downsizing of E3 there has to be some sort of big coverage for game conventions nowadays.

I wouldn't even know where to start, since there weren't many highlights. Microsoft showed off and announced some new Xbox 360 peripherals, maybe to counter the PS3's motion-sensing controller, which thereof was a counter of Nintendo's.

There's the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, which is made by Microsoft themselves, and is to come with an edition of PGR3 which supports it.

The Xbox Live Vision Camera is pretty much just more functionality between users on Live, including extras on games like avatars.

There's also a wireless headset coming in November for $60, as well as a separate HD-DVD player that'll be able to work with the 360 to play HD-DVD's...oh yeah, then there's the new various faceplates, too.

The Habu Mouse is coming in October for $70. A mouse for the 360? Uh, okay. There's a cheaper $40 one, the IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0, if anyone really wanted a mouse for the 360 desktop and some games.

A wireless 360 controller compatible with Windows is also coming in December with a couple of bundle packs. Microsoft really went all out with a slew of peripherals, but I have no idea how many could actually be used on a regular basis.

Moving on, a few games also got star treatment on the stage. Spore was featured, although only the character creature editor was available. Parabellum was also available, but other than destructible environments and some squad tactics, it looks like your every day run-of-the-mill FPS. Command and Conquer 3, some MGS4 screens, Crysis, the unique Portal, and UT2007 were also shown, but nothing major developed from the conferences.

Nintendo was also on show, with their pre-conference titled "Wii Prove Our Promise." Get it? GET IT? DO YOU?

A lot of people were hoping for them to finally release the launch date and price of the Wii, but the only thing that came close to that was the confirmation of the Wii launching for less than 250 euros. Nothing stateside was announced, and even the less than 250 euro thing was beating around the bush.

In North America, the Wii will also be $250 or less, but nothing definite has been given. A rumor floating around is saying that due to a breakthrough in making the CPU for cheap, the Wii could retail for 19,800 yen, or $171.

ATTN: Nintendo. Please tell everyone else, including your staff, to stop. Just give us a real price and release date. plz

k thx u

Games for the Wii on show at GC included a sequel to Battalion Wars and Super Mario Strikers, as well as a supposed improved build of Red Steel, which still looks awful. The DS Lite was finally announced to launch in black (and pink) in a couple weeks in September.

Other than that (which wasn't much to begin with), that wraps up the highlights. Wait until the Tokyo Game Show on September 14 to find out real news. Maybe. The PS3 is supposed to have some demos on hand, and maybe we'll find out that the guy in charge of Gran Turismo HD was just kidding when he said that GTHD is just GT4 with better graphics.

This is what I had in mind for news stuff. That's pretty much all there is to say, maybe there'll be a topic next week if anything cool comes up. If you want, I'll try to answer any questions...if there are any replies.