Last week was filled to the top with industry frivolity, so I won't waste a single keystroke more than I need to here.

Read on for more sales figures than you can shake a stick+3 at, enough analyst opinions to drive a technology investor to utter insanity, and the skinny on the ESA-blessed industry event intended to replace E3.

Some preliminary NPD holiday sales figures were aired on CNBC this week. They were quickly picked up by news agencies all over the world before NPD disowned the figures on GameDaily BIZ. The real NPD numbers for December are slated for release January 11.

The sales figures, apparently authorless, predict that the Xbox 360 trounced its new-gen competition, with the Wii in very close second and the PS3 a distant third. Here's these December "estimates" with NPD's proper figures for November.

The PS2 isn't dead yet. In fact, it's far from singing it's swan song, even as the next generation Sony console hits the market. Standard & Poor is predicting that the PS2 will outsell the PS3 through 2007 to March 2008. Considering the losses that Sony takes on the PS3, the heavy investment they've made on R&D, and the revenue that the PS2 creates ($8 per unit profit, and $1.4 billion this year alone in license revenue according to Goldman, Sachs & Co), they have good reason to continue milking the PS2 for as long as they can. It's price point is below the so-called "family friendly" Wii, and the library of games is unbeatable, and still growing.

I will probably be buying another PS2 this year before I buy a PS3, since my current hardware is starting to run down. My new PS2 will add to the 103 million units already in circulation (as of March) Here's some CRUNCH1NG on S&P's projections for Sony console sales:

The BBC metered out some judgement on the games of 2006 by going to a panel of experts, asking them to choose their favorite. Two RPGs made the cut, and I've got the "expert opinions" on the cream of the crop.

Margaret Robinson, of Edge Magazine, gave her heart to Final Fantasy XII, praising it as a "masterpiece," even after admitting she disliked the 3D Final Fantasy predecessors:

Neil McGreevy, one of the BBC's own staffers, lauded Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii and it's innovative control schemes:

If you were here before Christmas, you may remember this story, regarding Spike TV's video game awards. Legend of Zelda: Wii walked away with Critic's Choice, and though FFXII failed to win any awards, it was nominated for Best Original Score and Best RPG. Personally, I voted for FFXII with my wallet, but I'm looking forward to playing Zelda with the Wiimote.

Here at RPGamer, FFXII was graced with a 4.25 out of 5 between our two staff reviews, and Legend of Zelda: Wii recieved a 4.0.

When you shell out your hard earned dollars for a game, have you ever wondered where the money went? Well Forbes took a pie chart to an average $60 video game, and analyzed who gets the profit. I won't NUMB3R CRUNCH this set of data, since Forbes has already made a snappy slide show about the whole thing, but here's some of the highlights:

Console Owner: On a $60 game, the console owner is paid about $7 in royalty fees. Blades and razors.
Retailer: There's about $12 in markup on an average game.
Design: The artists and designers get about $25 from the sale, which is comforting; nearly half of what you pay goes towards making the game look and feel good.
Engineering: The programming and encoding of the game costs about $12, which includes localization.
Marketing: $7 goes to advertisements and keeping the game "funky fresh" in the eyes of consumers
Corporate Costs: Only about 20 cents goes towards corporate salaries and other executive positions.

Last month, Mary Lou Dickerson, a State Representative from Washington, conducted series of "stings" at retailers across the state, taking a quick acid-test of how many salespersons would sell Mature titles to underage buyers. GamePolitics has the raw data from Dickerson's admittedly non-scientific study. The results are more than depressing; more than half of the 19 kids were able to walk away with titles like Halo 2, God of War, and Mortal Kombat.

I didn't take a statistics class for nothing, so here's some new-style NUMB3R CRUNCH1NG for you.

It seems that underage girls were allowed to purchase games more often than underage boys, and it would appear that older teens can buy games easier. With such a small sample size, though, it's hard to draw conclusions, especially considering the variables related to the gender and age of the salesperson, but the overall message is clear: many salespeople aren't following ESRB regulations. Here's a handful of gemstone-quality quotes from some of the delinquent (and not so delinquent) retail workers:

After E3 was tossed out the window earlier this year for failing to provide value to exhibitors, it was annouced that the video game industry would have a new forum to throw money at fanboys/girls, courtesy of IDG World Expo. The event, previously known as "GamePro Expo", will now be known as "E for All", thanks to Dante Padre of California. Padre's submission beat out 3,000 other entries to rename the Expo, and has won him a trip to the event when it happens next fall.

The event will take place at the LA Convention Center (where E3 has traditionally been held), but will be different from E3 in a fundamental way: it is not restricted to industry insiders. The mandate of the event is one of inclusiveness, to attract new consumers and to encourage current gamers to experience new technologies. E for All will include video game tournaments, family events, and the Video Games Live concert. Much like pre-07 E3, E for All will also feature networking opportunites for the business-minded.

The line has been drawn between the consumer-based event and the industry event; E3 has been sundered into the smaller, industry-only E3, and the large, consumer-focused E for All. At the very least, it will make both events more maneuverable and focused.

The real question is: will there be booth babes at a family-friendly event?

E for All will take place October 18-20 of this year. If you're going to be in Californa this October and are thinking about attending, check out the E for All website to register for updates.

There's plenty of CRUNCH1NG dispersed throughout Currents this week, but to recap: preliminary December sales, PS2/PS3 Sales Projections, and retailer ESRB compliance.

UPDATE 01/07/06: There was a story here regarding console sales projections, which was found to be a duplicate of a story I ran late November.

If you'll excuse me, I have an Esper to subjugate.

Stay classy.

//This column was named after my lunch
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