The Wii (and the 360 and the PS3) gets all the press, but is Nintendo’s DS technically the most successful system of all time? I have no idea of the numbers, but tellingly, it sounds like most of Nintendo’s big announcements at E3 had more to do with the DS than the Wii.

The DS’s sales growth continues to impress the gaming industry. Thanks to hit games like Pokemon and the new Guitar Hero, analysts expect the DS to have outsold the Wii in June when NPD Research releases its monthly figures later this week. Nintendo executives say lifetime sales of the DS are expected to reach more than 100 million.

“People thought 2007 would be the peak year for the DS,� said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime on Tuesday. “We’re running 12% ahead of last year’s record [U.S. sales] of 8.5 million.�

Women and girls have been a growing segment of Nintendo’s success with the DS. They represented 30% of DS owners in 2005 and shot up to nearly half of all buyers in 2007.

Also, this sounded amazing:

Wii Music, an irreverent musical game that will debut later this year, closed the 1 ½-hour event. Nintendo attempted to create suspense with smoke rising on the stage and bright lights bouncing around the Kodak Theater, but it had a goofy effect. A guy with a faux Mohawk waved the Wii nunchucks and tapped his bare feet on the balance board to simulate drumming while Nintendo’s legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto strolled out on stage pretending to play a saxophone by holding his Wii controller close to his mouth.

JAPAN: UR DOIN IT AWESUM.

And how the shit is Pokemon still around? Can anyone explain this? Pop culture common sense would dictate that its shelf life ran out about 10+ years ago, but wow does that franchise have legs. I heard a kid talking about it in line at the grocery store just the other day!

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E3, the video game mega-conference, has returned. (You can always tell it’s E3 by the sound of disappointed fanboys everywhere, who look forward to this thing for months on end, and then get angry when the show inevitably does not meet their expectations.)

Anyways, I watched all the console makers’ press events so you didn’t have to. Here’s all you need to know:

NINTENDO:
Cool shit: Announced the “MotionPlus,” a pretty amazing accessory that plugs into the bottom of the Wiimote and delivers true 1:1 control. (Though, it must be said that this is what the Wiimote should’ve been from the beginning, but whatevs). MotionPlus will come packaged with the also-announced and sure-to-sell-a-bajillion-copies Wii Sports: Resort.
Meh: Also announced Animal Crossing for Wii, Wii Music, and Shaun White Snowboarding.
WTF: Four games, Nintendo? Really? And the closest thing you have to a “hardcore” game is Animal Crossing? No new Kid Icarus, as was rumored. No new Zelda, Mario, or even Excite Truck. For shame, Nintendo. FOR SHAME.

MICROSOFT:
Cool shit: Netflix is now partnering with Xbox Live, which is a pretty big coup. And Final Fantasy XIII is no longer a PS3 ’sclusy (that’s industry speak). Another big coup. COUP!
Meh: Enough with the Fable 2 and Gears of War 2 already! We get it!
WTF: Microsoft’s new Xbox Live Avatars, which are huge, huge ripoffs of Nintendo’s Miis. Seriously, there was nothing else you guys could’ve come up with?

SONY:
Cool shit: Sony was the easy winner of the show. God of War 3 was officially announced with a teaser trailer; a new Ratchet and Clank was announced for the PlayStation Network; a whole new genre/game — MAG, or Massive Action Game for online — was announced; Jim Lee came onstage to show off his design work for DC Universe, Sony’s upcoming MMORPG. And that Resistance 2 trailer — holy crap!
Meh: The announcement about movies and TV shows coming to PlayStation Network. Xbox Live has had this junk for a long time now.
WTF: The new 80GB, $399 PS3 bundle, which comes without backwards compatibility. Man, I’m glad I bought the 80GB model before it went gimp.

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At this point in time, it seems that the Totoro Forest Project is scheduled to only be held in San Francisco, but one can certainly dream of it taking to the road if the response is strong enough. Something like this would be a perfect fit in Los Angeles’ Studio 1984, for example, or the MoCCA in NY. But really, I’m just greedy and want to see it for myself. Sadly, I’ll probably have to settle for adding the book to my Christmas list, instead.

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Hopefully Dark Knight will do blockbuster bizniss this weekend, and Warner Brothers will actually utilize the fact that they on their very own superhero universe where characters know and interact with each other. THR Film seems to think they’re already on that path.

In the course of the past couple of weeks, Warner Bros. Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov and Warner Bros. Pictures president Kevin McCormick have been meeting with DC Comics executives as well some of DC’s top talents, like Jim Lee, to discuss a new direction for film adaptations.

Up until now, the comic properties had been undergoing a hodge-podge development process. With the recent success of Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” and that company’s plan to develop its many characters linked strategically together, Warners has been forced to take a close second look at its sister company.

With “The Dark Knight” near its release date, a new agenda is being set, one that not only sees the DC characters emerge with a higher priority but also one that would see them developed with an overarching goal in mind.

I say start smallish, use the Green Arrow script that’s in development and build the movie universe from there, introducing other B-level characters to grow towards a genuine, actually well thought out JLA flick. Of course, the last 20 years have proven that WB has no clue what to do with their characters, so despite this glimmer of hope, it’s still fanboy dreams for now.

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There’s been a lot of pomp and circumstance surrounding this year’s Baseball All-Star Game because of where the game is taking place: Yankee Stadium. This is the last year of the historic park, with the Yanks set to move into new, cursed-by-buried-Red-Sox-jersey digs next summer.

Not everyone will miss the old park, it seems.

Today’s All-Stars have their own reasons to dry their eyes at Yankee Stadium’s funeral.

“The smell,� the Texas Rangers’ Michael Young said.

“The tiny clubhouse,� Justin Duchscherer of the Oakland Athletics added.

“Hitting my head on the dugout,� the Chicago White Sox’ Joe Crede offered. “Every time somebody scored or got a hit, you jumped up and forgot how low the ceiling is in there.�

Much like I can’t blame the Mets and Yanks for building new stadiums, I can’t really blame these guys for complaining — Yankee Stadium, much like Shea, is old and scummy. But admittedly that’s actually what I really like about both stadiums. Dirty and old = character, and that atmosphere adds to the overall enjoyment of the experience.

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Andrew and I may be a little off on our Dark Knight predictions after all, but can you blame us really? After all, the Batfilms historically open in the mid $40M range with Begins topping out at $73M with a Thursday opening and a grand total of $205M. It really is kind of insane (and a little unsettling) to think that the admittedly excellent viral marketing combined with the death of Heath Ledger is worth an extra $30-50M, but that may be exactly what’s going on.

Deadline Hollywood Daily’s saying that WB is predicting $90M in house, but DHD thinks the real number’s going to come in around $130M. Slashfilm is thinking even bigger.

Me, the more I think about it, the more I believe that Pineapple Express is gonna be the biggest movie evar.

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Alas and alack, Spike Jonez’s Where The Wild Things Are movie has been moved back yet again, to the point where it’s not even on the WB release schedule at all. However, let’s not fret too much about the studio going in and ruining it.

But can the movie be saved? And when will it ever see the light of day? I just spoke to Warners chief Alan Horn, who offered, for the first time, his studio’s side of the story.

Horn denied rumors that the studio has taken Jonze off the movie, saying he remains fully supportive of the filmmaker. “We’ve given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film,” Horn said. “We’d like to find a common ground that represents Spike’s vision but still offers a film that really delivers for a broad-based audience. We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn’t call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we’re just trying to get it right.”

I’m guessing the odds of the original cut making it to DVD eventually are pretty slim, but I hope I’m wrong. Either way, I have a feeling that this will be an opening weekend trip to the theaters for the KFR household.

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