There is no way to really track digital download sales.

Downloaded games = Downloadble games.  It's not weak at all.  It's the perfectly logical breaking point when you can't track downloadble games accurately.

Well the facts are buying bundles shouldn't matter. Technically the thing against it is that you are forced to buy it but its a bundle. You still pay for both. Who's to say buying anything with a hardware isn't the same. If you bought another game with a hardware, you technically just bundled your purchase. Same thing its just with Wii Sports and others, the decision was made for you.

But that doesn't exclude that you bought the game on the market just like every other thing. Actually as a whole you paid more for it. Meaning who's to say the console didn't cost a dollar and Wii Sports cost $249. Either way its nothing but assumptions. Only thing that is fact is that it was bought fairly on the market and should be included with sales of every other product.

Now, I make exceptions when comparing optional buys. The key difference between Wii Sports and say Wii Fit is that you need the console to play a game. Of course you need a game to play the console. Either way you need both so the bundle makes that decision for you. It's a forced but still optional buy considering you still had an option to buy the console/game or not. But when it comes to say Wii Fit its complete option and not bundled. Thus we like to compare the games that are for the most part optional buys. Sure they may have a special bundle with a console every now and then but not most of their life cycle. Also its great for comparing sales of say the Lego Indiana Jones series. Technically the 360 version will sell more but the Wii version was leading until up into the bundle. Thus we should give a little more merit to that of the Wii version for leading without the need of a bundle.

And I sometimes even go further considering some games encompass more than one version such as Pokemon Diamond/Pearl or Nintendogs. Although they are the same game with slight variations, I tend to separate them when comparing best selling games but there is no reason for doing that because they are sold on the market just like everything else and should be combined.


The point I'm trying to make is bundled games are optional buys that are forced. They are optional in you still had to decide to buy the console to get the game and you need the game to play the console. But they are forced in they do come with it and you need the console to play the game. But the game is sold on the market by its own merits just like everything else. but when comparing with games that are sold completely as an option on the market, its best just to exclude the bundled ones for fair comparisons, such as with the case of Lego Indiana Jones.

Metal Gear Solid was a limited edition bundle.

Anyways every Wii sold comes with Wii sports. No doubt it would be popular, 10-15 million sales easily without being bundled, but it wouldn't be 34 million

Well, since we know that some people buy a Wii in order to play Wii Sports, how about we treat Wii Sports as the actual retail iteam & Wii as the bundled unit?

Therefore, it's actually Wii Sports that has all those sales -- except in Japan, the Wii has sold 0 consoles.

Here in the States, the Wii and Wii Sports are sold together for a specific price. People choose to buy them both together, or neither, but a sale is a sale of both and should be counted as such. I think that SMB has always been counted, yes? And we'll continue to count it, and games like it.

The bundled software on the other consoles is nearly always optional, you have the choice of buying a PS360 with or without Gears, Halo, GT5P, GTAIV etc, so the consumer gets to choose the game they want bundled. These should definitely be counted. Wii Sports on the other hand is compulsory (except Japan). If the buyer had a choice between Wii Sports, Mario Kart and SSBB, which one would they get with the console?

Well, okay, let's say people would choose Kart or Brawl.  So why wouldn't Nintendo do such a thing?  I figure, because they know that people are apt to buy Kart & Brawl anyways.  In other words, by bundling Sports as opposed to those other games, Nintendo will generate more sales for themselves (because the inclusion of a game justifies a higher price -- bundling Sports is selling a game).

Nintendo figures, if they bundle Sports, they're likely to sell Sports and Kart to a customer.  If they bundle Kart, maybe they'll only sell Kart.

Which means... that they're selling copies of Sports.

Which is why we count them.

@donathos

Given that logic, every bundled game on every system should be counted then!

Just great, Wii Sports will be the all time best seller for videogames. Movies have the piece of shit that is Titanic(not counting inflation, of course) and video games have the piece of shit that is Wii Sports. Mainstream people f**k up everything.

J/K.

Ugh, not another one of these... Yes, Wii Sports is bundled. Yes, it contributed to many sales of the Wii itself.

I DON'T CARE...

Except when it's compared in the "best selling games of all time" list. Then bundles should be noted and possibly excluded.

Other than that, carry on with your fanboy bullshit. No one with a life gives a damn if Wii Sports bundles are included in overall sales... It's just part of the game.

BTW, the OP is completely off-base by saying Forza 2 sold "virtually nothing". If Captain Clownshoe would have been paying attention in 2007, the game did quite well for itself... and then was bundled and sold like a man selling rose-smelling kerchiefs during the Plague.

In short, get over it.

I don't believe that is what people claim. I believe the argument runs

"Wii Sports sales do not count, because for all we know, the owner has never played the game

MGS4 bundles count, because why would someone go out of their way to buy a bundle, then not play it?"

That said, I tthink the argument is a crock of shit because

Wii Sports is the highest selling 7th gen home console game in Japan

Nintendo released the number of times played, and total combined playtime of Wii Sports for people who had connected their Wii's online - it was a huge number