i still find it hard to believe that ioi is okay with not changing the numbers all of a sudden even though every month he does.. im with everybody esle i think theres somethin screwed up about that..

I've attempted to explain the discrpency in the Xbox 360 hardware sales in the news item I put up.

However, I suspect there will be little need for a correction in the future as

1) Mass market adoption of Xbox 360 matches hardcore adoption of the console (its under $300 now) for the holidays.

2) Hardcore gamers begin to switch to PS3 and Wii at gaming stores.

Both of those factors should result in VGC undertracking Xbox 360 in the next few months as compared to NPD (if they happened), which would bring the two closer together.

With differences in sample size there are bound to be occasional variances, but we believe our sample is sufficiently large enough to be self correcting.

For instance, the preliminary japanese data for Super Mario Galaxy was 282,500 - but then it did 37,000 the next week (~320k) .

Media Create had it at 251,000 and then 74,000 (325k).

Close, no?  MC certaintly has more sources for Japan than I do for the preliminary article, but the data remains very close.

Small samples will take you to the total in a different vehicle, but if the vehicle is sturdy it usually can still get you there.  You just have to be able to avoid crashing, accidents, etc.

He did adjust for the NPD months of July, August and September, but then when the quarterly shipments came out he adjussted close to what they would have been without NPD adjustments....basically ioi thinks his last few months of data has worked out pretty well, and that the "in light of NPD" changes were unneccessary and possibly less accurate (mainly with DS and 360 though...could this possibly be due to the 360 being the most hardcore and the DS being the least, ie they sell well in places that NPD has no info for at all.)

*Sits down, munches popcorn*

(hhmmmm) i dont know what to think but i guess if ioi wants to stick with his numbers we cant fault him for that.. but id have to admit the timing and perception as alot of others have stated really dont look good.. but im sure once the quarterly reports come out that he'll change it to reflect those instead of changing them to reflect the npd numbers every month.. he has to seperate vgchartz and create credibility for its numbers some how..

Sorry 200k is FAR too different not to adjust back... infact it lowers my perception and 'trust' in this sites numbers if they aren't adjusted back.

I don't see what the problem is with adjusting numbers to what NPD release publically... they don't like it, but hey who cares - it's not anything illegal the numbers are public now so people can do with them what they choose... it would be the same if this site just kept track of NPD numbers and just had all of these graphs built around those public numbers... at least keep the public numbers as accurate as possible.

i dont see why this time is any different

Well, I give ioi credit for having the courage to stick with his convictions and leave the 360 numbers alone. At the same time, the fact that both 360 hardware AND software appear to be significantly overtracked (according to NPD) is definitely a bit disturbing. I'm certainly willing to give VGChartz the benefit of the doubt for now... with a bit of a critical eye. 40% higher than NPD is a lot different than 10-15%, after all.

If the November NPD data shows a similar pattern, then I'll push much harder for revising the data. Until then, ioi's word is good enough for me.

Because ioi doesn't think they're right. There's nothing more to it than that.

PS3Blog has summarized the PS3 results better than I ever could.

http://www.ps3blog.net/2007/11/15/october-npd-time/