Shouldn't success be measured by the games?

[Bodhesatva]

naznatips said:

Bodhesatva said:

When does sales data become worthwhile, Naz? When it's +-15 percent? +-1 percent? +-.0001 percent? +-50 percent?

How do we even know for sure that VGChartz is off, ever? Theoretically, it's possible that every single figure they've ever given is 100% accurate. It's... very unlikely, but it's possible that Media Create, NPD and other sources are consistently wrong, in some cases, wrong by rather large amounts.

Where does it end, Naz? Where do you draw the line?

Well the place you draw the line on sales accuracy is subjective, but I would say the most concrete are the numbers given by official shipments. Analysis can be made on the other numbers, but the accuracy of the analysis is of course directly tied to the accuracy of the data.

The same goes for reviews. The dataset people are using to determine quality (gamerankings, metacritic, etc.) is very small in scope, and has a clearly visible bias against games of certain genres. Using the dataset of sales to determine quality has a clear regional bias as well.

So, make your statements about quality if you want, but they are very limited in accuracy and very shortsighted.

They could lie about official shipments. There could be a vast conspiracy. Again, not likely, but possible that the Wii has sold 5 million consoles, and Media Create, VGChartz, NPD and lots of other sources are all playing a little trick. Again, extremely unlikely, but theoretically possible. 

They could just be wrong, off by 1-2 percent because of some accounting error. And lastly, I could read it wrong. Perhaps I'm going crazy. Perhaps what I think I'm reading I'm not actually reading. People hallucinate. How do I know, with 100% absolute certainty, that I'm not hallucinating right now? Heck, it's theoretically possible that the entirety of VGChartz is just a figment of my imagination. Perhaps I'm completely insane.

I would say it's "extremely likely" that those shipment figures are correct, however. I think most would agree that those shipment figures are "fact."

If that's where you draw the line, super. That's not where I do, however.