I would say that while the numbers are certainly un-spun, the very fact that they're releasing them is them trying to spin the goalposts in a more 360-friendly direction.  That's certainly as much spinning as cherrypicking numbers.  Lets be honest with ourselves; both Nintendo and MS are trying to spin the argument in a direction favorable to them.  Anything less, and they wouldn't be in PR

 fyp

Nintendo had a valid reason for having NPD provide the numbers. For well over a year we've heard from MS, Sony, analysts, fanboys, morons, etc...that 3rd party software can't sell well on Wii.

It had gotten so out of hand that people were believing it left and right with no actual data to back it up. Nintendo had to say something and brought some facts to back them up.

The simple fact that MS felt compelled to retort to Nintendo's PR suggests they fear the same backlash of false information that Nintendo has had to deal with for over a year and are concerned about losing their software crown to the Wii

This combination of MS spin and Sterling's inability to turn on his brain is pretty stupid:

MS' David Dennis went as far as to say: "No matter how you slice it, the Wii third party game story is not a pretty one." Certainly a far cry from Nintendo's claims that its third parties were selling "better than our competitors." If these figures are to be believed, then that's just a blatant falsehood.

The fact that Sterling just regurgitated what MS spoon-fed him without any original thought at all is pretty sad journalism, imo. These gaming blogs are all so heavily MS-leaning, it's very odd.

If you know statistics at all, Nintendo's chart is the most neutral way to look at them. Just like how a couple months ago it was meaningless crap when MS said that since they were the first to reach 10M systems in the US it meant they'd already won (even tho it took Nintendo 11 months fewer to reach that same mark and then passed the 360 that month, not looking back), yet people ate it up 'cause they don't use their brains. People believe what they want to be true, not what is true.

I don't normally double-post but the last of MS's bullets there is pure cherry-picking number-spinning gold:

"If you take the total number of units sold and divide that by the number of titles released since November 2006, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are selling more units per title on average than the Wii. This puts the Xbox 360 at 217,252 units per title, the PS3 at 156,065 units and the Wii at 132,517 units."

I wonder why they didn't include the 360 figures from launch for that one? Numbers probably don't look as pretty when your userbase has to start from zero like PS3/Wii -- 360 only sold 14 million third-party games in its first year.

Never mind that a Wii game (especially the typical third-party Wii game) is so much cheaper than an HD game that it only needs to sell half as much, if not less, so these numbers just prove that there's more profit per title on Wii than the other two.

 This

idk if they are lying but, what is the highest selling 3rd party game on wii ????

Let's not pretend MS's way of presenting the numbers is totally invalid.

Nintendo's way of presenting the numbers is to suggest that third parties are now going to rocket beyond what they did on 360, as they came from behind and then took a sizable lead over the first 19 months of each console's release.

MS's way of presenting the same numbers show that third parties have sold more on 360 than Wii since Wii was released. In the end, raw numbers are the best metric, so you can't knock this too hard.

The problem with MS's way of presenting it is it's just a reflection of 360's head start and weak 1st party, at a time when Wii's and 360's install base are still pretty similar in America.

But the problem with Nintendo's way of presenting it is that as a practical matter, being able to sell the most software is most important, regardless of head starts and unfair "statistical" comparisons.

Luckily, Wii should move boatloads of 3rd party software over the rest of the year, and we won't need to have this discussion too much longer.

All is as it was I see...

Actually I'd say the MOST neutral way to do it is show ALL the data -

Software sold total.

Software per region.

Software since launch.

Software for 1st 19 months.

Software for the last year.

Etc,etc, etc.

Of course this is the same MS that stood up and told everyone that they were still the sales leader, without specifying in the conference that this was ONLY in North America, and that it would no longer be true when the NPD numbers would be released just days later.

Everybody Spins by REM

When the sales are poor, and the stats, the stats are in your hands
When you're sure youve had enough of this, well spin on.
Just let the truth go, everybody lies and everybody spins sometimes.

Selectivity ain't wrong, and your boss needs to look good
With shareholders on the phone, (spin on, spin on)
If you wonder if you should, (spin on)
And you've worked too hard for too long, don't let it all go

Everybody spins. take comfort in your lies.
Everybody spins. dont let them know. oh, no. never let them know.
You  know you are not alone, no, no, no, you are not alone

The competition is a bitch, the stockholders are whores,
And you've worked too hard for too long to let it all go

Hell, everybody spins sometimes,
Everybody lies. and everybody spins sometimes.
And everybody spins sometimes. so, spin on, spin on.
spin on, spin on. spin on, spin on. spin on, spin on. (repeat & fade)
(everybody lies. you are not alone.)