Welcome back to IGN's History of Awesome - a year-long look back at all the coolest and most influential games, movies, TV shows, comic books, toys, and tech that have shaped pop culture, and shaped the lives of an entire generation. Up this week is 2006, the year the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii launched.

2006 was also the year of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Gears of War , and Final Fantasy XII.

2006 by the Numbers

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $423,315,812 2. Night at the Museum $250,863,268 3. Cars $244,082,982 4. X-Men: The Last Stand $234,362,462 5. The Da Vinci Code $217,536,138 6. Superman Returns $200,081,192 7. Happy Feet $198,000,317 8. Ice Age: The Meltdown $195,330,621 9. Casino Royale $167,445,960 10. The Pursuit of Happyness $163,566,459

1. "Bad Day" Daniel Powter 2. "Temperature" Sean Paul 3. "Promiscuous" Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland 4. "You're Beautiful" James Blunt 5. "Hips Don't Lie" Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean 6. "Unwritten" Natasha Bedingfield 7. "Crazy" Gnarls Barkley 8. "Ridin'" Charmillionaire feat. Krayzie Bone 9. "Sexyback" Justin Timberlake 10. "Check on It" Beyonce feat. Slim Thug

1. Dexter 2. Friday Night Lights 3. Psych 4. Heroes 5. 30 Rock 6. Hannah Montana 7. The IT Crowd 8. Ugly Betty 9. Inspector Lewis 10. Big Love

1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 3. New Moon (Twlight #2) by Stephanie Meyer 4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 5. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson 6. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan 7. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks 8. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green 9. World War Z by Max Brooks 10. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Females Males 1. Emily 1. Jacob 2. Emma 2. Michael 3. Madison 3. Joshua 4. Isabella 4. Ethan 5. Ava 5. Matthew

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History of Awesome is IGN's 38-part trip down memory lane - each week we're covering a new year's most important, influential, or just-plain-awesome movies, games, TV shows, comics, and more. 2005 was epic, but things are only going to get more awesome from here. Be sure to check back next week for an in-depth look at the year 2007, a major year for games including Portal, Uncharted, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect.