2006 in video gaming
September 12 Joint Task Force PC
XB Xbox
Release Date Title Systems
Saints Row Xbox 360
Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2
October 18 Football Manager 2007 PC, Mac
Medieval 2: Total War PC
Guitar Hero II
The Sims 2: Open for Business
[edit]Business
Black
Super Princess Peach
January 26, 2006 — Public schools in West Virginia will add Dance Dance Revolution by Konami to their curriculum, in an effort to combat obesity. (Reuters) (GameSpot)
Tony Hawk’s Project 8
November 14 Final Fantasy III NDS
Nintendo GameCube
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion PC, Xbox 360
Pokémon Ranger
MLB 06: the Fiesta Online Money Show
October 24 Dark Messiah of Might and Magic PC
Sony’s PlayStation Portable
Excite Truck
Need for Speed: Carbon GCN, PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360
NCAA Football 07
Age of Empires III
North American release dates:
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (America) Wii
Ten best-selling Wii games of 2006:[7]
February 14 Empire Earth II: the Dofus Kamas Art of Supremacy PC
July 24 CivCity: Rome PC
December 13 the Buy EQ2 Plat Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess GCN
The Sims 2
November 28 the Hellgate-London CD Key Rise of the EverQuest Game Card Witch-king PC
April 24 Black & White 2 - Battle of the Hero Online Gold Gods PC
3 PlayStation Portable 4 million
February 27 Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords PC
Rampage: Total Destruction
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance GBA, PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360
Star Wars: Empire at War
Over the Buy Gaia Gold Hedge
Additionally, the EverQuest Gold Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii were released on November 11 and November 19, respectively.
August 29 Enchanted Arms Xbox 360
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360
Guitar Hero II PS2
Ten best-selling PS2 games of 2006:[2]
Dreamfall: the FFXI Power Leveling Longest Journey PC
March 7 Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai PSP
Tomb Raider: Legend GBA, GCN, NDS
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos PC
Red Steel
GCN Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP / Game Boy Micro
Madden NFL 07
Big Brain Academy
October – ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) soft-launched.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
July 5 the EverQuest CD Key Lord of the Buy Vanguard Gold Rings: the Gaia Online Gold Battle for Middle-earth II Xbox 360
November 20 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas Xbox 360
Sid Meier’s Railroads! (North America) PC
Madden NFL 07
1 Nintendo DS 6.4 million
Fight Night Round 3
Lost Magic NDS
April 28 Guild Wars: Factions PC
Neverwinter Nights 2 PC
August 1 Flatout 2 (USA) PC
June 1 Half-Life 2: Episode One PC
The Godfather: the Hellgate Palladium Game PSP, Xbox 360
Dungeon Siege II: Broken World PC
September 26 Caesar IV PC
Nintendogs
November 15 Xiaolin Showdown Xbox
GBA Game Boy Advance
Superman Returns: the LastChaos Gold Videogame GCN, PS2, Xbox 360, NDS
January 31, 2006 — Sony is reportedly building a Xbox Live-killer for the Fiesta Online Money PlayStation 3. (Joystiq)
Scarface: the Cheap Tabula Rasa Credits World is Yours
August 8 Dead Rising Xbox 360
Call of Duty 3
Need for Speed: Carbon
March 21 the Hellgate Palladium Godfather: the Buy KAL Geons Game PC, PS2, Xbox
X360 Xbox 360
Red Steel (America) Wii
NCAA Football 07
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
August 22 King of Fighters PS2
March 15 Battlefield 2: Euro Force PC
January 27, 2006 — Players of the Lord of the Rings CD Key Horde clan from World of Warcraft start the Buy EverQuest2 Plat “Gamers Against No Kash” charity, to pay the SNW Vis subscription fees for valuable players strapped for cash. (Gameshout)
DC Dreamcast
Resistance: Fall of Man PS3
November 30 Final Fantasy VI Advance (Japan) GBA
March 26 Act of War: High Treason PC
January 27, 2006 — the Gaia Gold Los Angeles attorney’s office sues Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive over the EverQuest 2 Platinum Hot Coffee mod. (Gamasutra)
Call of Duty 3 PS3
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point PC
January 26, 2006 — Nintendo reports declining Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance sales but increased profits: Yen92.2 billion. (GameCpot)
March 17 24: the L2 Adena Game
September 25 Baten Kaitos Origins (North America) GCN
January 31, 2006 — CNET reports that Cisco Systems might be interested in buying Nintendo. (CNET), (GameDaily.biz)
NCAA Football 07
April 20 Mother 3 GBA
NBA 2K7
September 13 Company of Heroes PC
Kingdom Hearts II
January 27, 2006 — the Matrix Info Nintendo DS returns to the IT outsourcing top of the RF Gold weekly Japanese charts, with 64,515 units sold compared to 38,271 for the Cheap FFXI Gil PlayStation Portable. the Lord of the Rings Online Gold PlayStation 2 is third with 26,135 units sold, while the SWG Credits Xbox 360 continues to sell poorly (just 3,616, less than the Maple EU Mesos GameCube). the Maple Story Meso five best-selling games were Brain Training for Adults 2, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Super Mario Strikers, Brain Training for Adults and Mario Kart DS, all published by Nintendo. (Media Create)
November 6 Lumines II PSP
January 31, 2006 — Blizzard Entertainment responds to the Buy EVE ISK GLBT debate happening in World of Warcraft. the Warcraft Gold company stated: “To promote a positive game environment for everyone and help prevent such harassment from taking place as best we can, we prohibit mention of topics related to sensitive real-world subjects in open chat within the DDO Game Card game, and we do our best to take action whenever we see such topics being broadcast.”(Edge)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent Xbox 360
Wii Wii
January 31, 2006 — StarForce, a DRM maker for computer games, threatens to sue popular weblog Boing Boing for criticising its products. (Gamasutra), (Boing Boing)
4 Xbox 360 2 million
Guitar Hero
Teen Titans
Madden NFL 07
Based on estimates from Electronic Arts.
Rayman Raving Rabbids (America) Wii
October 17 Age of Empires III: the Lineage2 Adena War Chiefs PC
Ten best-selling Xbox 360 games of 2006:[5]
Fight Night Round 3
Battlefield 2142 PC
November 21 the EVE ISK Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Guild War CD Key Nine PC
Yoshi’s Island DS NDS
January 30, 2006 — Shares of Take-Two Interactive, the Cheap LOTRO Gold controversial creator of the LOTRO Gold Grand Theft Auto series, rose Monday after news that the VC Money company was in takeover talks with an unnamed buyer. (Yahoo), (Marketwatch), (TTWO Stock Chart)
The Sims 2: Pets PC
Ninety-Nine Nights Xbox 360
Left Behind: Eternal Forces PC
Resistance: Fall of Man
May 23 Jaws: Unleashed PC, Xbox, PS2
August 15 Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII PS2
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade PC
Ridge Racer 7
Sonic Riders
May 16 Heroes of Might and Magic V PC
Call of Duty 3 (America) Wii
Tetris DS
November 13 EverQuest II: Echoes of Faydwer PC
Gears of War Xbox 360
Ten best-selling DS games of 2006:[8]
Tetris DS NDS
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Dead Rising
Driver: Parallel Lines
May 15 New Super Mario Bros. NDS
September 29 DEFCON (Europe) PC
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
[edit]Video game sales
Prey PC, Xbox 360
June 29 Panzer Command PC
Metroid Prime Hunters
MVP 06: NCAA Baseball
NBA 07
Place Console Units sold
Bully PS2
September 18 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team NDS
Final Fantasy XII
September 5 LocoRoco PSP
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (America) Wii
Super Monkey Ball Adventure (USA) GCN, PS2, PSP
LEGO Star Wars II: the EQ2 Plat Original Trilogy
July – ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) formed.
Rayman Raving Rabbids
October 30 Pokemon Ranger (North America) NDS
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin NDS
The Movies: Stunts & Effects PC
September 28 Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Japan) NDS
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Mac Apple Macintosh personal computer
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody
Sonic the Tabula Rasa CDKey Hedgehog Genesis GBA
October 31 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories PSP
Win Windows-based personal computer
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance PS3
Gears of War
Madden NFL 07
January 30, 2006 — A mandatory update for Xbox Live on the DAOC CDKey Xbox 360 was released. Microsoft claimed the Buy EverQuest2 Plat update was for bugfixes and improvements. Members of the LOTR CD Key modding community claim that “the true purpose of this update was to halt the Guild Gold progress of the Buy Gaia Gold modding community”. (Gamasutra)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Buy EVE ISK Minis NDS
April 11 Tomb Raider: Legend PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 PS3
Nintendo DS / Nintendo DS Lite
[edit]Notable releases
February 18 Star Wars: Empire at War PC
Guild Wars Factions
Call of Duty 3
[edit]Trends
Call of Duty 3
January 27, 2006 — Microsoft of Japan made a statement to Japanese game magazine Famitsu regarding the Buy DDO Gold Xbox 360 launch. “It was a lot more difficult than we had imagined. We couldn’t prepare the Cheap FFXI Gil launch titles that we had promised, and it made an impact,” said Microsoft of Japan Xbox chief of operations Yoshihiro Maruyama. At the Anarchy Online Credits launch of the FFXI Gi first Xbox in Japan, more units were sold in three days than have been sold of the RF Online Currency Xbox 360 in one month. (Gamasutra)
5 Wii 0.7 million
January 27, 2006 — Microsoft lowers its estimate of Xbox 360 sales in its first 90 days from 2.75-3.0 million units to 2.5 million due to supply shortage. the EverQuest Plat yearly estimate (4.5 to 5.5 million) is unchanged since Microsoft plans to increase its console production with the Kamas for Dofus help of a new manufacturer, Celestica. (TeamXbox) Meanwhile, Microsoft postpones the PotBS CDKey Australian 360 launch from March 2 to March 23, 2006 due to a “short term manufacturing challenge” . (Gamasutra)
GB Game Boy
Naruto: Clash of Ninja
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Sonic the Buy COH Influence Hedgehog Xbox 360
The Sims 2: Nightlife
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
May 30 Hitman: Blood Money Xbox 360, PC, PS2, Xbox
[edit]Video game consoles
LEGO Star Wars II: the World of Warcraft Gold Original Trilogy NDS, GCN, PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360
Civilization IV: Warlords PC
January 26, 2006 — Sony reports that strong sales of the WOW Gold PlayStation Portable helped the Last Chaos Gold company make a profit of 70 billion yen, the World of Warcraft Europe Gold first time in 11 years that the Ragnarok Online Zeny company has managed to avoid an annual loss. (Herald Tribune) (Financial Times)
April 18 Dreamfall: the Lineage 2 Game Card Longest Journey Xbox
PS1 PlayStation
Video game console sales of 2007 in Europe[2][3]
October 9 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon PS2, Xbox
LEGO Star Wars II: the EQ CD Key Original Trilogy
Ten best-selling PS3 games of 2006:[3]
Killzone: Liberation PSP
January 30, 2006 — Nintendo released a statement regarding the WOW EU Gold Red Tulip phenomenon on Animal Crossing: Wild World, stating “We have isolated the Free Message Board problem and determined that there was a temporary error with the CO ALZ upload tool when this letter was posted”. Earlier, there had been speculation that the Cheap FFXI Gil tulips were a result of black hat hackers. (Gamasutra)
X-Men: the Hellgate London Palladium Official Game Xbox 360, PS2, PC, Xbox, NDS, GCN, GBA
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent PC
June 21 Tomb Raider: Legend PSP
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team GBA
Zoo Tycoon 2
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent Wii
June 12 Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War PC
September 19 Ōkami PS2
April 17 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day NDS
January 9, 2006 — Take-Two Interactive acquires Irrational Games. (Shacknews)
November 7 Call of Duty 3 PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360
January 31, 2006 — Sony announces that ten servers will be merged with ten others on Everquest 2. Players are cautiously optimistic. (Sony), (Darniaq)
Wii Sports’
[edit]Europe
Wii Sports (America) Wii
The Sims 2: Open for Business PC
December 29 Ape Escape: Million Monkeys PS2
Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360
See February 2006 in video gaming, March 2006 in video gaming
Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan PC, PS2
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (America) Wii
PS3 PlayStation 3
PS2 PlayStation 2
March 2 the Buy Second Life Linden Lord of the VC Silver Rings: the Anarchy Online Credits Battle for Middle-earth II PC
Platform key
Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption PC
March 20 Metroid Prime Hunters NDS
January 26, 2006 — Konami Corp. announces the Knight Gold list of titles it expects to ship in 2006, ranging from Beatmania to Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, and covering multiple platforms. (TeamXbox)
November 17 PlayStation 3
Sonic Riders GCN, PS2, Xbox
Cars
SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Combined Assault PS2
EverQuest: the Buy Hellgate Palladium Serpent’s Spine PC
Final Fantasy XI Xbox 360
Sony PlayStation 2
Star Trek: Legacy PC
October 26 Guild Wars Nightfall PC
Final Fantasy XII (United States) PS2
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent GCN, PS2, Xbox
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 PSP
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 PSP
May 10 SiN Episodes: Emergence PC
Madden NFL 07
Excite Truck (America) Wii
April 13 Auto Assault PC
OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast Xbox, PS2, PSP
Xiaolin Showdown NDS
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate PC
March 31 Animal Crossing: Wild World (Europe) NDS
February 21 EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky PC
Ten best-selling Xbox games of 2006:[4]
Ridge Racer 7 PS3
May 9 Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends PC
June 26 Titan Quest PC
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 PS2, Xbox 360
Ten best-selling GameCube games of 2006:[6]
NDS Nintendo DS
Major League Baseball 2K6
January 26, 2006 — Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, the PotBS Doubloon Nintendo DS Lite. the FF11 Gil new model is lighter, smaller, has configurable brightness and features an improved user interface. (Nintendo) (GameSpot)
January 26, 2006 — Microsoft announces $293 million losses in its Home and Entertainment division, record revenues overall. (Gamasutra)
LEGO Star Wars II: the Pirates of the Burning Sea CD Key Original Trilogy
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Godfather: the EVE ISK Game
January 5, 2006 — Vivendi Universal Games acquires High Moon Studios (formerly Sammy Studios, Inc), which gained independence from Sammy in 2005. (Prnewswire)
2 PlayStation 2 6 million
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra PS2
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
June 6 Battlefield 2: Armored Fury PC
November 19 Wii (America)
GBC Game Boy Color
Fight Night Round 3
Saints Row
April 25 Ace Combat Zero: the Buy WOW Gold Belkan War PS2
Ten best-selling PC games of 2006:[1]
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Xbox 360
July 20 AFL Premiership 2006 PS2
Civilization IV
July 11 Chromehounds Xbox 360
February 28 Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach PC
August 28 Star Fox Command NDS
Kingdom Hearts II (Australia, Europe) PS2
May - IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) successfully merged with VSDA (Video Software Dealers Association) to form combined organization EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association)
PS2
PSP PlayStation Portable
Scarface: the City of Villains CD Keys World is Yours
Cars PS2, Xbox, GCN, PSP, NDS, PC
June 13 Armored Core: Last Raven (USA) PS2
Madden NFL 07
December 5 Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops PSP
March 28 Kingdom Hearts II PS2
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories PS2
January 27, 2006 — the 12Sky Silver PlayStation Portable 2.01-2.50 firmware versions, previously considered unhackable, are hacked by Fanjita. (PSP Updates)
[edit]Handheld game consoles
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (America) Wii
New Super Mario Bros.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Xiaolin Showdown PS2, PSP
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Rockstar Games: Table Tennis Xbox 360
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