Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have all been successful with bundles. I think bundling GT5 with every PS3 would boost it's sales immensely.

Bundling DKCR with a new color Wii would boost it pretty far.  And it's more likely to actually happen than Sony bundling every PS3 with GT5...

Why don't you go look at the the aligned launches?

GT5 first week: 2.3 million
Donkey Kong first week: 900k

So the gap has only closed 100k since launch. At the current rate it'd take over a year for DK to pass GT5. So much can change in that time. You don't know where each game will stabilize and when and if they will be bundled.

You cannot say at this point that one of them will "assuredly not" reach 10 million while the other "might".

Well, I am a little fuzzy on my history. Did Nintendo bundle Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong 64? I remember the gold N64 for Goldeneye, but I was too far into my PS1 to remember anything past the Ocarina of Time.

It makes sense with Wii sales struggling to bundle DKCR with the Wii. I automatically assumed GT5 will be bundled because Gran Turismo as a series has been heavily bundled in the past.

Not to mention a bunch of less popular, lower selling titles, in genres that aren't as relevent.

Genres DO matter.  I mean, have you never thought "Man I want to play an RPG" or something like that?   It's definitly a problem unless you think Platformers are  alot more popular then Racers...

which I don't believe has been the case since 2D platformers were the norm.

First off, high sales of a game alone does not indicate how well a video game franchise is support. You have to take into account how many games were released and how mainstream they were. Between the last main installment (Donkey Kong 64, I consider the Donkey Konga and Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat! to be spin-offs) and Donkey Kong Country Returns, there has not been a main installment in the Donkey Kong series, only spin-offs of, some of which are good, some of which range from average to shovel ware. I haven't heard reports of them selling like gangbusters, only now is the latest installment an exception to the rule. While Metroid hasn't had a seller like the Donkey Kong games, between the release of two previously mentioned main Donkey Kong Country games, the franchise has seen an universally received revival with three games selling into the millions and the spin-offs doing very well as well. Metroid, had effectively, replaced Donkey Kong in the big Three since it received more of the Triple A treatment the Donkey Kong franchise used to have and became a big Nintendo franchise while Donkey Kong somewhat faded into obscurity.

As for the other one, that was my mistake as I was confusing that with it being Sony PlayStation 3's best selling exclusive, which I have since corrected.

And another thing I want to say, Gran Turismo 5 being the PlayStation 3 best selling exclusive does tell something. Donkey Kong Country is a game where it's been hyped up for less then half a year and as a result, will not have nearly as much of a leg due to the the time it's been hyped, plus it has to worry about other incredibly high selling exclusives like Wii Sports or New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Gran Turismo 5, on the hand, has already became the console's best-selling exclusive and has been hyped up for like five years, so sales are going to remain very high for a long time and will help boost the PS3's sales. The only competitions they have left is multi-platform titles, which while unlikely, is still plausible. But that's another argument for another day and on a different thread.

Also, why does it matter that I italicized the games? I usually do that if a game has an official name anyway that I can easily type and remember.

Don't think long-term hype necessarily means longer legs. That has been negated now they are both in the market.

I don't know I think it will be close. Donkey Kong Country Returns is performing very well globally. The reason past GT games broke the 10-million mark is because past Sony consoles had much larger user bases, but with the PS3 their aren't nearly enough users to give assume it will reach that mark.

At the same time I predicted DKC:R would sell about 8-million lifetime. I stand by that prediction and think if GT5 can sell more then that then it will win. But Donkey Kong will have legs and most certainly continue selling strong (Unless Nintendo releases another DKC game on Wii) that might chop the legs off.

Going to say DKCR, I expect it to have legs much like New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

I see Gran Turismo doing 10-11 million lifetime.

DK will settle somewhere between 7-8 million.