I'm inclined to believe the Microsoft official who spoke was refferring to the 11.6 million shipped through June, and that next-gen misinterpreted what was said, or that Microsoft just mispoke.
Why do I think this?
Well, it isn't October yet. That means the big three have not accounted for the number of hardware and software units shipped from July 1 to Sept 30. One of the European sales trackers announced 360 sales were 260% higher in the UK after the price drop, but the leaked numbers I saw showed that 360 was still selling under 50k/week in Europe (and by extension Others which includes Aus, NZ, etc), while at about the same time a report came out from a European agency saying that Wii was moving 90k/week in Europe.
My inclination is that through August, Wii is basically at ~7.7 million in Japan/USA & Canada 3.4 million/4.3 million split while 360 has ~7.1 million in a 400k (Jap)/and 6.7 million split between USA & Canada.
The question is, was Wii within 600k of 360 in others by the end of August? I'm inclined to believe it was - because it was outselling 360 in it's best Euro market - the UK - by ratios of 2:1 upto 4:1 prior to the August price cut for 360. That means 10 months of Wii sales would be equal to 20-40 months of 360 sales.
Basically, I think Microsoft was estimating their figures for TGS. But even if they weren't and knew exactly how many consoles they sold, then ioi's margin of error was well under 10%. You have to remember - the data could be underestimating Wii sales a bit as well.
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
