Good read, well written. PS3 ding well compared to last year while I don't believe ms are suffering shortages big enough to drastically affect sales. I agree with your Wii theory of stockpiling. Although I think they'll just have a massive march to be honest and stockpile through February.

DSLover,do me a favor please :)

Could you list what are,in your opinion,the 10 or 15 best DS titles out so far?

Actually they might have shipped everything, but if Nintendo used air freight to transport Wiis in December it takes a few weeks to fill the normal shipping channel again. 1.8M units per month is over 400k a week, with maybe close to 300k for Europe and the US combined. If it takes around 3 weeks to get those Wiis from the factory onto store shelves it means under normal conditions around 1M Wiis are on route between the factories and store shelves at all times. If they accelerated shipments in December they will need to refill the channels again in January. So January sales should be equal to 1.8M minus the units needed to refill the shipping channels minus any stockpiling (maybe for launching the Wii in new territories).

Hmm, I will wait to see until the end of the FY. If the PS3 is able to top the 360 in America in Feburary or March ..... then, MS has someting to worry about.

To Some People- I think yall are missing the points I was trying to make. And I think this comes from you not reading the entire article, which is really quite disturbing.

In whole, I state that there isn't much you can derive out of the January 2008 NPD charts, as so many other variables could make everything meaningless. If you read my conclusion you'd understand this.

But the previous bulk of the article, mainly for PS3 and 360, was trying to catch an early trend. We all know that somewhere in a sales cycle you'll start to notice trends starting to change. I was using this odd month of sales to see if that change was happening this month. This is why I clearly stated that my ideas on PS3 and 360 are my opinion and simple theories as to why these sales happened. And I gave pretty damn good reasoning.

But it's not to be taken as the final word. It's just my thoughts on what could be happening. Is the 360 a failing brand in America? Who knows. I think its starting to fade out, and has ever since the Wii released. We've seen a similar trend in Europe/Other regions where 360 dominated, and then soon Wii overtook it of course, followed shortly but slowly after the PS3 as well. I think the UK is a great example of this. This month could be proposing a similar start to that trend. Do I know if it'll happen? Who knows. But we will completely find out as more NPD month sales data come out. Hell as I said I could be completely wrong. But the point of this analysis was not to try to make a "safe" explanation for the sales, but put out a couple of plausible theories.

As for the cover up 360 shortages, once again I don't know if its true or not. MS says there are shortages, but there are no other sources that even confirm this. None of the retailers seem to be having this problem. Hell after Christmas, I had no problem buying my 360, with numerous left at the store to spare. Like everyone else in this forum, the first thinig we heard of a 360 shortages was after these NPD numbers were released and MS said there was. And that's the truth.

Now once again I could turn up wrong and there is a shortage in America for 360. So what does it change anything.

As for PS3 starting to eat away at the 360 in America, once again I don't know if this is 100% true. It could be possible. Remember PS3 did over a year gain an increased weekly average. Now I gave a theory on how it could be a fluke, which I really think it, but even if that fluke is confirmed, PS3 is still at higher levels than it was last year. And I know PS3 isn't chipping away at Wii's userbase so that only leaves us at one option.

But the disclaimer is there. It's my analysis of the situation. I gave you my opinions, my theories, and my ideas. I didn't give you the future, cause I can't do that. I only gave you my thoughts on the future. And then ultimately told you that, all of it could be meaningless anyways as its only one month. To all getting pissy or freaking out, remember its important to read everything, ESPECIALLY THE CONCLUSION, and not just respond when something pisses you off.

Oh well, continue with your thoughts, whether good or bad. Just know the disclaimer, its simply an opinion.

At this point there's not reason for NIntendo to stockpile for SSBB. Every system they put out will sell, and the sooner they get out there the more time they have to sell games and accessories for the machine. And, of course, they need the things on shelves now before people more people get tired of looking. The Brawl fans will buy the machine no matter what, even if they had to wait another 6 months after Brawl, Joe Q Public's grandmother is going to get tired of trying eventually.

There did seem to be shortages of Pros and Elites this month at retailers. However, online they could be found. So if one wanted a 360, they could find one with little effort. The same can't be said about the Wii.

I do think the PS3 is gaining popularity. The fact that it outsold the DS is saying something. I think the image has improved for the PS3 because of the upcoming games and the HD DVD death. A few of my friends bought a PS3 recently and quite a few want to get one pretty soon. Alot of them will get it for MGS4 / FF, or when it gets to $299.

I think most SSBB fans are long time Nintendo fans and have long since bought the machine .Japanese data seems to agree with my view .

Fils Aimee said they werent stockpiling at all .

I read some news about Nintendo diverting some of its january inventory to december pushing the manufacturing times in november-december to have the most inventary possible out there in the holidays .That seems to have been the case and the retail channel was dry for january .That explains the shortages ,no need for "stockpiling " here .

zucas nobody is reading the whole article. Its three pages musing on one month sales of game consoles