That's what I normally do, and if there are any other relatively reliable numbers I add them into the mix too. However, right now is not really the moment for crucial number accuracy, as the 360 is still around 2m over the Wii, and the PS3 numbers still have a lot of catching up to do before, say, a 5% discrepancy really becomes an issue. I think it's beyod safe to say that for now:

Xbox360 = #1

Wii = #2

PS3 = #3

For now, I'm happy with the accuracy of VGC and NGW, NPD, et.al.

"A man with one watch always knows the time. A man with two watches is never sure."

Umm NPD is a very professionally run company and their business relies on it's reputation of accuracy.  They have over 800 employees, bring in hundreds of millions of dollars yearly, they're ISO certified, etc, as I said very professional.  Oh and they don't "review" products, not sure what you were getting at there.  Also does anyone really think NPD cares what the numbers are?  They just report them.  They also have Microsoft, Sony, and very likely Nintendo as clients and if people at NPD were to somehow "cook the books" don't you think it would be quickly discovered and their reputation and company would be in ruins?

Exactly. The NPD makes money by selling the information they gather. If that information was found to be biased and intentionally inaccurate, people would stop buying that information and NPD would go out of business. It's that simple.

The NPD doesn't stand to gain by favoring one company over another, in fact, it would hurt their image. They don't care what the numbers say, only that they are as accurate as possible.

We should be grateful that there are sites that gather data and try their best to provide the most accurate estimates possible, and for free even!

This goes for any site that tries to logically and accurately calculate their numbers. I still think VGC is the best in this regard (so far; there's no letting down standards!), but I don't discount NGW either. Combined, all the reputable resources and websites give us a better picture than any one source of information can.

Personally, I'm just happy that such resources even exist.

/opinion

Exactly, so when NPD posts numbers very different to VGC I'm of course going to side with NPD and question VGC, so I wanted to see if VGC could give a valid response. Most of this thread is drowning in ignorance though, as I expected.

Btw johnlucas Wal-Mart is the #1 retailer for video games in NA by a large margin.

If I'm not mistaken, NPD doesn't cover Wal-Mart, and I don't know of anyone or organization or company that tracks South America, so everyone's numbers must be off somewhat!

However, you don't need to count every single console sold to get a reasonably accurate estimate of what is going on with sales.

Case in point: Exit polls. They ask a miniscule percentage of voters who they voted for, and you get a very good idea of who the next person in office will be before ballots are even counted. While not infallible, Exit polls tend to be accurate enough most of the time when predicting who will "win".

Hence, I am fine with this bit of guesstimating. I think apart from the truly rabid fanboys out there (and you know who you are!) these numbers are good enough.

So, yeah... nobody's numbers will be accurate enough for you, nintendo - not even NPD! 

I wasn't bashing VGC's numbers at all. A lot of great work goes into this site.

I was responding to people who were implying that NPD had alterior motives to how they chart sales instead of just reporting what they find.

But you're right about Wal-Mart. They don't give their data to NPD.