Well, they release numbers with 2 weeks delay, I'm not so sure if they update those.

They don't release LTD to the public. Just to their subscribers.

They also do weekly numbers. Though these numbers have been seen as really inaccurate by at least one company... and don't add up to the end of month totals.

Which themselves can be created. As for the "hundreds of employs" line.

All you need to do something like this... is a bunch of people to enter data into a statistical program like SAS and one or two proffesionals after you get a wokring formula.  After that it just takes a couple guys to make sure there isn't any typos in the data sets and to tweak the formula when it's been found off. (Well if you have competitors.  Someone like NPD can just sit on their formula and do nothing unless they are WAAAAY off.  That's why competition is extremely valuable in a field like this... and likely why NPD doesn't want any.  It would make them have to do a lot more work.

@Mike B and others

My point about NPD not having Wal-Mart and Toys R Us data was not to say necessarily that VGChartz was right but that NPD is probably wrong.

Check the above analysis on the LTD shipped numbers and NPD sold numbers for the Wii. Given that you can rarely find a Wii anywhere in the US, it is doubtful that there are 1M units stuffing the supply chain -- which is the only conclusion that can be reached if both numbers are correct.

Both NPD and VGChartz have to use complex formulas to compute how much is sold at stores not included in their sample. It may be that VGC has better algorithms than NPD. That would be especially true if NPD is using formulas from last generation to estimate this one.

In case people have not noticed it, the Wii has a very different customer base than previous consoles. And they sell much more at Wal-Mart and Toys R Us than they do at conventional game stores. (Go to a Wal-Mart and watch the game cases and you will see).

I beleive over time that the NPD numbers will end up being corrected ... even though it may be months before anyone knows it (because it will only show up in the quarterly release).

Mike from Morgantown

You do realize that NPD tracks not just the video games but pretty much every piece of electronics in the US and Canada. This is from Wikipedia:

 And here's their offices (this is from their website):

 Unless they have some super smart computer it would take more that just two professionals to run their company. Maybe their gaming division only, though.

You're saying that it's only 6k???? You do know it goes like this 9 (Million placement holder) . (the thousand mark) 8 (The hundred thousand mark) 6 (The ten thousand mark) So NPD is 6 ten thousands more. Which in terms is 60,000. Not 6k

^So to add to my last post. The difference between NPD LTD is not 6k it IS 60k. So we would NOT need to adjust december and november. I say that number IS from Jan. so EVERYTHING you said is all in void.

Sorry, I really should stop posting at 3am, because I can't think straight. It is 60k.

But that still only puts the PS3 at 10 million even.

Still, it just shows that NPD and VGChartz have similar numbers overall, so nothing really needs to be adjusted. That's the point I was trying to make. And for the ones where the are drastically different, I gave reasons to why VGChartz could be considered more accurate. Of course, this only adds up the NPD monthly sales, and since we don't know if/when they adjust a months sales, it's not completely accurate or fair(the comparison), but overall it just shows that VGChartz is a more reliable source, since it's not only free, but it also has visible evidence of when or if the numbers are ever changed.

I would not call it simular numbers overall..

PS3 that sold out the X360 in the USA is very special news...Almost every freelancer said that PS3 will not outsold X360 a month this year;..And already at the first mnth PS3 outsold X360.

I am wondering how those Freelancers will react on it...Especially on GT.

Has ioi commented on the NDP numbers yet? Been a few days... would be nice to know what he thinks about it

He commented on the first page, basically, he's standing his ground, much to the disdain of PS3 fans, and the pleasure of PS3 haters.