Tbh comparing DQ and MH's popularity in respect to how long each has existed has some flaws, in todays market things are more mainstream and the are a few more factors. In todays market if you hype and push something you can get high sales so a new franchise can rack up sales rapidly, Monster Hunter will never outsell DQ outright as the latter has better appeal to the west and is more accessible, MHFU has sold 4.5m but is out in all 3 regions, DQ has sold 4.3m and is only out in Japan (which MHFU has around 3.6m sales) with Nintendo publishing it in the west, I'll stick my neck out and predict it could push 5m possibly 6m under Nintendo if pushed as hard as first party titles.

This is DQs force in the mainstream compared to MH's mainstream drive, I'm a fan of both franchises but MH is far too complex to combat DQ's simplicity and characteristic charm, both these games are more popular in Europe then the US curiously enough and I'm seeing MH3 ads all over the place over here. MH needs to break it's handheld duck and be successful on non handhelds and Tri is achieving that but to take on DQ I personally don't see it happening as DQ has more chance of taking of in the west then MH and when it does sales could start reaching rediculous levels.

Izo? O_O

I know Famitsu's track record isn't impecable, but saying they are irrelevant and mean nothing is pure bullshit. They are a very reputable gaming magazine and a sales tracker. They have been in the industry for many years, so I would say that majority of the people will listen to them rather than listening to you, I'm just sayin'.

Popularity = sales when talking about a product. DQ is still bigger, no one is questioning that, but MH is getting close really fast.

As for the bolded, I never claimed that, so the second part of your post suddenly became irrelevant.

Funny, because you're putting words in my mouth as well.  I wasn't saying Famitsu is 'irrelevant'.  Quite the opposite.  I was trying to point out your comment about how 'Famitsu is expecting MH to overpass DQ in popularity come MHP3.'  And I was pointing out that Famitsu doesn't state wild claims like that.  Because of the entire basis of what I've been trying to say.  You can't base 'popularity' based on sales charts and opinion polls.  Let alone the anticipation of one game.  If that was the case, people could have been saying for months that Final Fantasy was more popular than Dragon Quest simply because it topped all of Famitsu's 'most wanted' charts.  Yet Dragon Quest IX topped those same charts for years before it came out.

Its the same exact thing with Monster Hunter.  Please don't make me pull the 'show us where Famitsu said' card.  Because this whole back and forth about imaginary popularity bumps is getting rather personal and pointless.  Especially since you've already contradicted yourself multiple times.

Famitsu president expects 5 million units of MHP3 sold, that's not based of a poll, but probably from their analysts and Capcom's internal members. Where did I contradict myself anyways?

^
Famitsu president also expects 5 million of DQ9 sold. How does it make Famitsu expect MH more popular than DQ?

If it gets to 5 million it will mean that MH is going to have a game sell more than any DQ game ever released. As for the DQ9 expectations, I don't think that's going to happen, hence why I said Famitsu doesn't have an impecable record. But they are very knowledgeable about the matter and have a lot of data to work with, DQ9 will probably end over 4.5 million sold, but I will have to add that MH popularity is on the rise on a much steeper rate than DQ at the moment judging by how games sold in comparison to previous ones.

That's a big if.

MHP2/MHP2G never sold that many units in the first two months though and it relies on the best release and re-release and re-re-release to sell to this point after two years. Do you think MHP3 would have the two years time period in Japan to sell?

EDIT: no idea where this double post came from

There's no doubt MHP3 will be more frontloaded. If the MHP2/MHP2G situation is any indication, the userbase expanded astronomically from one title to another. I don't think the userbase expansion will be as big this time, but there's no doubt it will bring more people to the table. Also, it will be extremely frontloaded. There's 3.5+ million MHP2G owners right now (Not counting pirates), many of those will go out during the first weeks to buy the game. If Capcom provides enough units, there's no doubt it will sell a lot during the first 2 months. MH is a hardcore fan franchise now after the big expansion. Much like DQ and FF it now has a solid established fanbase. The legs will probably come from newcomers or people that just recently bought MHP2G. I doubt it will take MHP3 very long to reach MHP2G numbers. It will manage them in much less time I'd say.