Can someone explain to me what this chart actually represents?  It reads like it is sales for the year, but that can't possibly be true, as the PSP is on top each year.

PSP on top is just the way Nintedo lists the consolds/handhelds

basicaly, each graph (per year) shows the total number of units sold combined (think wii+ps3+x360 etc)

the color coding is the number of units contribution of each console

so looking at the 2011 bar, psp has the least number of units sold. to get its value, go count some pixels :P

Oh ok, I get it now.  Thanks for enlightening me. 

no problem.

actually, without having to count pixels I can safely say the following

Wii - down by a lot

ds - down by a lot

psp - down

ps3 - flat or slightly up

x360 - flat or slightly down

Those charts will confirm one more thing, Microsoft has overshipped during holiday season. Will see impact on this Q shippment.

Impressive PS3 numbers is Europe, PS3 was on top all year except weeks 48-51.

After doing some pixel counting, it looks like the PS3 is up 1 pixel, the 360 is down 2 pixels, and the Wii is down 7 pixels.

so how does this info line up with MS shipment info?

2010:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=420074

TOTAL = US | EU | JP

3DS – 11.8 = 4.1 | 3.5| 4.3
360 – 11.0 = 7.3 | 3.7| 0.1
PS3 – 11.0 = 4.5 | 4.9 | 1.5
WII – 9.5 =4.5 | 4.0 | 0.9
NDS – 7.5 =3.8 | 3.0 | 0.7
PSP – 5.8 =1.4 | 2.3 | 2.1
PSV – 0.5 = 0 0 | 0 0 |0.5

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/120127/index.html

I'm gonna guess that since Japan is a none factor, and Europe is flat to down YoY, majority of the excess stocks is in the US due to massive expectations because of the sucess during Black Friday sales.