Digital downloads seem to be the way of the future, looking at the current landscape of the gaming industry now. Even analysts say that retail will be overtaken by digital distribution in a mere three years' time. Nintendo's big boss, Satoru Iwata, begs to differ, however. To him, digital distribution will sure be a hit -- but not till 20 years later.

Japan is without a doubt the Monster Hunter capital of the world, so what happens when you release the next big Monster Hunter title there on a new console? That console sells, of course. That's what happened with the Nintendo Wii, which saw sales quadruple following the release of Monster Hunter 3. Find out how each console fared in the latest Japanese hardware sales charts after the jump.

While the camera-based motion-sensing tech shown by Sony and Microsoft during E3 definitely impressed a lot of gamers, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had more of a "been there, done that" attitude.

Now this be crazy! The April results from NPD show that the DS outsold all other platforms combined, thanks to its whopping one million units sold. Satoru Iwata, adopt me now.

Hearing about money matters as the reason behind the cancellation of XBLA GoldenEye 007 is intriguing enough, but as it turns out, there are other similarly interesting angles. In this particular tidbit, rumor has it that Nintendo itself ordered the cancellation of the game's Xbox Live Arcade release. Details in the full article.

We've seen lots of stuff happen during 2006. The next-gen consoles alone got the the gaming industry at the edge of its seat. The handhelds also had their own booms, bangs, and whistles, too. There were thrills and spills, exclusives and not-so-exclusives-anymore, and lots of other gory stuff to mix into the whole brew. Of course, none of this would be possible without the movers and shakers of the gaming industry themselves.

The recent edition of Japanese magazine Famitsu published the final roundup of their biggest Japanese industry presidents. They took the presidents of Japanese companies and asked the vox populi to vote on how they each gave an impact on the industry and how much influence they held sway on the market. Here's the final list:

1. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata - 201 votes
2. Sony Computer Entertainment's Ken Kutaragi - 181 votes
3. Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi - 126 votes
4. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto - 41 votes
5. Konami's/Kojima Productions' Hideo Kojima - 33 votes

We're sure you have your own thoughts and opinions about this list. We're just reporting how things tallied up at Famitsu. It's not much surprising - these people really are the industry's biggest movers and shakers. As to the ranking of these five, yeah, you can say it's contestable. But the fact still remains that, no matter how you jumble around this party of five, you'll still end up with these guys topping the list.

GameDaily is apparently done with its selection process for person of the Year. Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price and Bethesda Softworks' Todd Howard come in at a tie for slot number 5. Cliffy B gets fourth place. WoW Wizard Rob Pardo gets number 3 Slot. Satoru Iwata comes in at second.

So who gets top honor this year? It's ESA president Douglas Lowenstein.

If you're wondering why he deserves top spot, just try to recall how many times the guy went to Capitol Hill. Too bad he's making an exit.

Anyhow, you could also check out QJ's 2006 Community Awards and let your voices be heard.