I've never truly trusted NPD. I remember when they had both April and May 2008 hardware sales for the ps3/360 below March, despite the release of GTAIV.
Of course, this would jibe with one of NJ5's theories:
3- They adjust for past errors by adjusting later months' data. In this case it's not possible to trust each month's data, since it may be wrong or adjusted up or down to account for past mistakes. At least in this case the sum of several months should be more close to the truth.







