Every week we do a quick wrap-up of some news items that may have slipped through the cracks. The wrap-ups will be shorter versions of our articles, lumped together to give you an idea of things you may have missed.

Sold Out in Japan – Xbox 360?

With a constant barrage of announcements, and now seeing the start of a series of releases for exclusive Japanese RPGs for the 360, Microsoft has now made the impossible possible with stores in Japan reporting sell outs of the system around the country. The system has not sold well in comparison with their rivals Sony and Nintendo, and has only recently started to pick up steam with the announcements of exclusive games that appeal to the market. While the numbers they will achieve selling out were lower than you might think it’s still something to behold considering how difficult it’s been for the company so far.

NPD for July: “Nintendo is still rich”

If the Wii is a fad, as some still seem to echo in far away lands, the fad is going on a little bit longer than Pogs. The Nintendo brand carried over a million consoles (over 600K DS and 550K Wii) in the month of July, despite not having any major release during the entire month. More widespread availability seems to be driving sales at this point, and leading up to the holidays expect this number to do nothing but increase, especially on the continuing strength of Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play, which seems to be unstoppable in its 2nd year in the top ten software sales. Microsoft sales stayed below the rest at just over 200K units, but still boasted a profitable year and the highest attach rate of all the consoles as their spin for the month. Sony saw both the PSP and PS3 outsell the 360 this month, both just over 220K units, but still lacked much punch in terms of software sales, with their only two in the top ten being multi-platform releases which the 360 sold more of (Soul Calibur IV and NCAA Football 09).

The biggest surprise was the complete lack of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in the top software sales. Considering Sony is still boasting the game as a large hardware mover, it didn’t move as much of itself in the month of July, but we’re not sure if those July numbers also include the bundle with the game, as well.

30 – Love: EA Serves Up Wimbledon

Considering this has become a topic of discussion on the round-table here after the demo for NHL 2K9, EA has announced they will be entering into the Tennis game market with an exclusive license for Wimbledon for the coming year. While this tactic is something not to look on too favourably, since competition in all its forms seems to benefit the gamer more than anything, it is good to see EA at least take a chance on the sport. They’ve also said they will be taking advantage of the Wii MotionPlus attachment with this release, which is one of the first 3rd Party games to announce specific functionality with the accessory.

With SEGA’s Virtua Tennis typically bringing the genre to the forefront of gaming in an arcade style, and 2K Sports’ Top Spin taking up a more simulation style control scheme, it will be interesting to see where EA fits and how they will approach the sport. Considering the games this year were nothing evolutionary beyond a new coat of paint, and the sport itself continuing to gain ground with the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in constant competition, another contestant in the field can only help, as long as EA doesn’t simply scoop up all the ATP licenses one by one.

Side Note: Game Expo Tomorrow!

The Toronto Fan Expo (which includes Comics, Anime, Games and more) will be on in Toronto, Ontario tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. UGTV will be there scouting out any info and getting some hands-on time with a few games while we’re there. There will be some special guests, but don’t expect any new announcements. The weekend will be filled with updates from the show floors.