In this version of our survey product we found that Halo 3 remains the most anticipated game according to 27% of our respondents. In August 20% cited Madeen 08 as the top upcoming game release, although several noted that at this time of year the latest Madden iteration is usually a top seller.  Only4% of respondent felt that Grad Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) was the most anticipated game. GTA IV has fallen in our surveys all summer from near parity with Halo 3 to barely registering among respondents.

We found that 39% of our respondents listed the Microsoft Xbox 360 as the top selling game console compared to 37% who saw the Wii as the top console. The Nintendo DS received top billing from 9% of respondents so that as a complex Nintendo continues to lead in total console preferences among our survey respondents.

The top game, in a nod to seasonality noted above was Madden 08 according to 29% of our respondents, the most responses of any game in our survey. The second best selling game was Halo  3, available on pre-order.  The next top game that is shipping today is Bio Shock from Take Two Interactive. We see the buzz for Bio Shock but just 7% of respondents reported that title as the best selling game in the month. Guitar Hero fell in our survey as only 4% of respondents cited it as a top selling game now.

We are now beginning our September /October period survey on the video game space and will be back to update you all soon.

Contrary to our notion of the conventional wisdom, our forecast indicates that optionsXpress will report a 10% decrease in DART volume for August 2007 compared to July 2007 and a 58% increase over August 2006. A majority of the 58% year-over-year increase is attributable to the January 2007 acquisition of Xpresstrade according to our data.

optionsXpress is scheduled to release August DARTS pre-market on September 12^th. The August DART Forecast report will be available in The Channel Checkers archives October 1^st (www.thechannelcheckers.com/archive/).

A copy of the full report is for sale from The Channel Checkers directly by calling 415.359.9153 or e-mailing casey@thechannelcheckers.com.

We called a wide range of dealer brands from Ford to Suzuki. 72% of these dealerships reported a small car as the best seller as compared to 28% who named a pick-up truck or SUV model as their best seller. Ford dealers continued to report that the F-Series truck line led by the F-150 as the best selling model. 9 out of 11 Ford dealers called reported truck sales as being the top models sold.

Beyond Ford, Toyota Camry’s and Corolla’s were named often as was the Honda Civic. Out of the 16 Toyota dealerships we called 3 listed the Prius as their best seller. Only one Toyota dealer cited a truck model (Toyota Tacoma) as a best seller. Volkswagen dealers reported that Golf’s were best sellers in 50% of their responses with Jetta’s getting the other 50% of responses from VW dealers.

Smaller brands cited small cars as well. Suzuki dealers cited the Reno, Saturn dealers the Ion, the Kia Rio, BMW M3 and the Pontiac G6. Our survey results are unsurprising given the high cost of gas over the past two years. We will revisit this survey in a few months and see if trends reverse or intensify in terms of consumer preferences for small full efficient vehicles.

The results of our survey were not entirely surprising but did highlight some interesting trends. The “best” phone outside of AT&T stores (AT&T results discussed in detail below) the best selling phone remained the Motorola RAZR (all variants) followed closely by Nokia’s N-Series line with the N-95 and N-73 primarily cited.  Motorola RAZR’s were seen as the best phone by 17% of our survey respondents while the Nokia N-series was favored by 12%.

The best smartphone / PDA device was clearly Research In Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry line.  Blackberry’s were cited as the best smartphone device by 42% of all respondents, including many AT&T store representatives.  Aside from the iPhone the Palm Treo line and the Nokia N-series, the N-95 in particular, were mentioned as best devices for this category was well.  Palm and Nokia were viewed as the top smartphone device by 4% of respondents each.   It appears that Blackberry devices maintain their popularity in spite of the entrance of the iPhone during the summer months while Nokia is a little weaker in this category than they were in our June survey.

The top music phone outside the AT&T network remains the Sony-Ericsson Walkman series which was rated number one by 17% of respondents followed by LG’s Chocolate phones which were viewed as best by 6% of respondents.  In non-U.S. markets the Sony-Ericsson series dominated this survey category.

At AT&T the answer to the “best” phone questions was  the iPhone from Apple.  This was also the case at AT&T stores to the question of which phone was the best for music. On the topic of best smartphone/PDA device the AT&T store reps were mixed. While some did recommend the iPhone again as the best device in this category models from Research In Motion’s Blackberry line were also mentioned frequently.

We will be running a new survey on these categories in a few weeks and hope to highlight changes or new trends in the cell phone space as 2007 moves into 2008.