'Harry Potter' Impresses Critics, Breaks Records

Despite being the sixth film in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has continued to dazzle audiences. Overall, the critical reception has been positive, with the cast being praised and the visuals praised as well. Among the top complaints was the confusion that newcomers likely felt watching the movie and the film "dragging" during the first half.

In the box office, Half-Blood Prince has been even more successful, breaking opening day records with $22.2 million and 5-day records at an astounding $394 million, beating Spider-Man 3 by $12 million. It is quite possible that the film might break even more box office records, considering the fact that the original movie in the series is the fifth highest grossing film of all time.

Image credit: Reading Cinemas (here).

Nintendo Back On Top

After a bit of a "slump" in Japan, in which Sony sold quite well, Nintendo is back on top. With 7 Wii/DS games in the top 10 sold, as well as having the DSi sell higher than any other console (oddly, with the PSP coming in second, beating the Wii), Nintendo is doing well again. Another intersting note in the sale of consoles is the continuation of Japan's "hatred" toward the Xbox 360 - with the DS Lite and the PS2 beating out the seventh generation console.

"Wii Fit" continued to dominate sales (strangely, because Japan has little problems with weight) with a rank of 7, selling approximately 20,000 units, an impressive feat for a game that is getting old. "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of The Sky" sold an impressive 45,000 units, topping the sales charts in the software department.

An old image, this does not prove that the Wii will come in multiple colors anytime soon

The Wii may never return to the amazing sales it had in it's first year, in which it sold literally every console produced, but that doesn't mean it will start to falter. If Nintendo sees a true problem in the sales of the Wii, they have the ability to release a hardware update to enable DVD functionality, or they could simply begin releasing multi-colored Wiis.