http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22098

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/9764-nintendo-prez-ds-wii-havent-hit-their-walls-yet/

"I think it is true that new information penetrates through the Japanese market very quickly and that Japanese people tend to get tired of something new very quickly. It is also true that the population is smaller when compared with that of other major markets, so it is inevitable that the market starts to feel saturated earlier than others.

"With new customers acquired by the gaming population expansion efforts, it is not impossible for the Wii's total sales to exceed the final installed base of PS2. Wii still has much more room for expansion."

"It can be said that the U.S. has 2.5 times as much the potential of Japan, and Europe has even bigger, undeveloped potential," said Iwata. "Of course, they are theoretical potentials and not the actual demands of today."

Of course, Nintendo's DS is probably in a better position to outpace the PS2 if it comes to that.  Iwata revealed that the combined lifetime-to-date sales figure for the DS has reached an 84.1 million units across the US, Japan and Europe, versus the PS2's 97.5 million units.  As long as growth remains possible in these multiple regions (with Europe potentially being the largest DS market), Iwata predicts that the "ultimate" LTD number for the DS could reach as high as 152.2 million units.

To illustrate this, Iwata noted that the number of million-selling third party Wii titles jumped from 12 to 30 during the timeframe covering the end of March to December 2008. Meanwhile, the number third party DS titles which would sell over a million copies also increased from 28 to 49 during that same 9 month period.

So over 20m PS2s were sold outside the US, Japan and Europe? What am I missing?

You're missing the reading the article part :P

"DS has reached an 84.1 million units across the US, Japan and Europe, versus the PS2's 97.5 million units."

This is saying the PS2 sold 97.5 million units across the US, Japan and Europe, correct? The graph confirms this. VGC has 123m WW, so unless VGC or Nintendo is out by 10m or so, the PS2 must have sold over 20m units outside those three. Tell me exactly where I'm wrong.

It would be some acheivement and quite possible looking at wii sales.

Oh, I thought you meant there was no new data to be seen. Apologies for the misunderstanding.

Read the article, US, Japan and Europe ONLY.

Those don't count South America, Asia, Australia, Canada, and some other small countries.

ps2 is at 140million and you cannot compare the ps2 with gba/ds because it's not the same market, handles should not be compared to consoles. who cares if the wii surpasses the ps2, the ps2 has been obsolete since the ps3.

i think those only include the main european countries as well.