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... but all good things must come to an end, eh? It's always nice to wallow in the explosion of news that surrounds a trade show, and even the diminished E3 was no exception. Sure, for Nintendo fans, at least on the DS side, things started out a little slowly, but once the media hit, we no longer had anything to be disappointed about! So what was tops for DS owners? Here's the best -- according to us, at least.

Top E3 trailers:

• Contra 4 -- After all our Contragasms, you knew we were going to say this!
• Front Mission DS -- What can we say ... we're big fans of ass-kickery.
• Brain Age 2 -- We know you'll probably disagree with us here, but we can't help it. We a) dig a good, brainy challenge and b) think the selection of games looks even better than before.

Less-discussed games we desperately want right now:

• Professor Layton and all his mysterious locales -- Okay, we wanted this before. But it was mentioned in passing around E3, and now we're more rabid for it than ever!
• Nintendo Magic -- Another game we weren't sure would head our way, but that just sounds like fun.
• Advance Wars 2 -- The first is one of the best the DS has to offer, though it seems to rarely get a mention.

Worst trailer that should have been awesome:

Insecticide, hands down. Please pass us some Dramamine on your way out.

Biggest disappointment:

Probably the missing wi-fi for Mario Party DS. C'mon, Nintendo, slip it in there! We promise not to complain about friend codes for at least a week.

One is all new as of E3, and the other got a great media boost ... and together, they're about as different as DS games can be and still be played by roughly the same groups of people (and also have the potential to be any good at all). So, c'mon, we've been here before. You know what we're going to ask. Which one sounds like the game you'd prefer, if you had to choose? Contra 4 or Mario Party DS?

With so much emphasis put on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and casual games during this afternoon's media briefing, Reggie neglected to mention a few titles that I'm sure gamers would've loved to have heard about. News of Advance Wars DS 2, for instance, was hidden in a European press release, dated for the fourth quarter. Freshly Picked - Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, starring everyone's favorite cosplaying fairy, was also quietly announced for this September 14th in the same report.

On the North American side, Nintendo revealed that it will be publishing Professor Layton and the Curious Village on December 3rd, the same day Super Smash Bros. Brawl is expected to hit store shelves. Two previously unannounced titles, Nintendo Crossword and Nintendo Magic, were also listed. Follow the link below to see what other first and third-party games are due for the remainder of 2007.

Well, call it a controlled explosion, kinda like a smart bomb -- but we're still pretty pleased to see some sweet new media from a brand new DS game. Er, mostly new, considering it's a franchise title. Still, Mario Party on the DS sounds like a winner, though we would prefer more than just local wireless play. Mario Party could only make Game Night that much more fun, amirite? Oh well, enough complaining -- check out the images in our gallery and the spankin' new trailer after the jump.

CVG is reporting that Mario Party 8, which was originally slated for release this Friday, has been delayed until July 13th. That's like Friday, only much later. Nintendo cites some kind of "production issue with the English version," which, in light of recent history, can mean only one thing: they're being forced to tone down the brutal violence.

This only affects the English release, and not other European versions. So there are other options if you're in a huge hurry to get the game, for some reason.

The latest US video game sales data, as compiled by the NPD group, indicates that the popularity of Nintendo's delightful money-printing machines shows no sign of, well, change. The DS and its host of pocket monsters dominated hardware and software sales in May, a month marked by a 49% increase in overall industry sales to $815.5 million. GameDaily BIZ reports that the considerable rise was due in part to console hardware sales climbing 79% to $221.4 million.

The NPD has not yet provided a complete breakdown of hardware sales per platform, but the initial sales ranking gives more than enough food for thought. Sony's PSP grabs the number three spot behind the DS and Wii, trumping the PS2, the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Perhaps that early April price drop is paying off.

We'll add the exact sales numbers into the ranking below as soon as they become available. As always, you'll find the software's top ten after the break.

• Nintendo DS: 423K
  
• Nintendo Wii: 338K
  
• Sony PSP: 221K
  
• Sony PlayStation 2: 187K
  
• Microsoft Xbox 360: 155K
• Sony PlayStation 3: 81K

[Update: additional numbers added from a Bloomberg report.]

There's a party going on tomorrow and the Tanooki got a sneak preview of the decor. It's a full-on Super Mario themed bash, complete with all the stuff you'd expect to find in a Mario game. This fantastic Chain Chomp piñata is just waiting to be smashed, hopefully by a jumping kid in a Mario costume. Seriously, if there's an invite going free, we'd love it.

Head past the break for the giant Pirahna Plants and chocolate coins!

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo confirmed that they do in fact plan to release Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl by the end of this year, as well as pretty much every Nintendo game announced for the Wii. This corroborates an IGN report to the same effect, and is also totally, totally rad. Here's the full list of Nintendo's planned 2007 releases. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race is slated for June 28, and the rest are all "2007":

• Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race
• Wii Health Pack
• Disaster: Day of Crisis
• Mario Party 8
• Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
  
• Wii Music
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Battalion Wars II
• Forever Blue
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Keep checking with us for news of the inevitable delays of about half of these. Seriously, that's a lot of first-party Nintendo games for just half a year or so. Aw, we just made ourselves sad with our own skepticism. Still, if half of this stuff does get released in Japan this year, it'll be great news and do a pretty good job of ending any drought that may or may not be happening.

Update: fixed some italics and formatting.

I know what at least three of you are saying out there: "how can you hate Mario Party? It's so fun and non-repetitive and I own all seven versions!" Well calm down there, skipper, because not everyone thinks video board games are the greatest thing since non-video board games.

Julian's hands-on with Mario Party 8 sent Penny Arcade's Gabe into a frenzy and subsequently became the most popular gaming comic this week. Second place went to Fanboys Online and third place was claimed by Qwantz, even though we mistakenly linked to the picture and not the comic / news page (thanks, karmaghost). Be sure to congratulate Qwantz artist Ryan North, as his comic turned four years old as of February 1st!

Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

Mario Party started a multiplayer frenzy back on the Nintendo 64 that has yet to die down. Now, seven years later, gamers are getting ready for Mario Party 8. We haven't heard or seen a lot about the game aside from a few seconds in a Wii trailer but judging from the blurry screens, we expect it to hold true to traditional Mario Party. From what we can tell, players will compete in activities like tightrope walking and painting.

Check out a few more screens after the break!

[Thanks Mickey!]

There are some of us (you know who you are) that have fond memories minigame festival that was Fuzion Frenzy. Others among us felt that it lacked the substance of, say, a Mario Party. It's interesting, then, that Microsoft has approached Hudson -- developer of the Mario Party series -- to create Fuzion Frenzy 2. We don't know if the game will feature an overall hub or board like the Mario Party titles, but we can at least be guaranteed that there will be tons of minigames. These screens show off some of the characters and what appears to be a casino themed world. Hopefully, Hudson has learned something from their recent effort and won't forget to include local multiplayer.

Anyone looking forward to this one?

Microsoft announced today that the sequel to Fusion Frenzy -- creatively titled, Fusion Frenzy 2 -- will be released in the US in time for the holidays. The title is being developed by Hudson (Mario Party, Bomberman) and published by Microsoft Game Studios. For those unfamiliar with the original Xbox title (pictured above), Fuzion Frenzy is a party game full of frantic minigames and eXtreMe! character designs. It's kind of like Mario Party without all the boring board game sections (oh, snap!).

It will be interesting to see what Hudson does with the franchise -- the original game was developed by Blitz games, who are currently working on another 360 game, Possession. Anybody itching for a good 360 party game?

[Thanks, Paul]