Heh, sometimes I wonder about that. And also whether system biases ever creep in at NPD. For example, if there is ever say, a big fanboy who directly works the numbers at NPD, why couldn't he skew the numbers for his favorite up?

Anddo you ever see a number very close to 100k up or down, say 199k or 200k, and wonder if somebody pushed the number just a little bit one way or another, to make that system look good or bad? Like, maybe it was 199k, and somebody just pushed it up that little bit to make the so much better looking 200k? Or the reverse if they didnt like the system in question?

We just have to trust that they are professionals who just handle the numbers without bias. I think they are, not because they're good guys necessarily, some aren't judginng from those emails, but because it's their job and clients pay big dollars for those numbers to be accurate.

Do you really think someone is going to risk federal prison just because they are a fan of a console? This is serious business. Nobody is going to risk their entire life on a fanboy whim. 

Personally, I'm always a little skeptical of firms that seem to have little to no competition in their field. Nielsen in the US is a good example - their methods for measuring TV viewership are archaic, but due to a symbiotic relationship with the television industry, they have virtually no competition. There's been very little pressure on them to change with the times. 

All in all, VGChartz is a performing a great service if for no other reason than it forces NPD to self-improve- their move to track online sales is a great example. I wish there was another company, or someone in the media like Famitsu in Japan, that would do the same thing. More sources never hurt.  

Hey anyone know when the Worldwide comparison figures for last week will come out? they were up for 2 weeks ago...

If adding up new sources leads to such a dramatic change, that doesn't say much of the quality of the numbers in the first place. The Wii saw a 33% increase over June with nothing big to report!

I'm not sure if this has been posted....

Sony responds to NPD figures

Sony Defeats Truman 

This just in from video-game reporting headquarters: Sony may be a consumer electronics giant, but its public relations folks aren’t so powerful when it comes to prognostication. Yesterday, said spinsters made a bold prediction about sales figures for video game consoles that were due out today. Sony said it was confident the figures would show that in July its PlayStation 3 outsold the Xbox 360, made by its chief rival, Microsoft.
The actual figures from NPD Group, a market research firm, did not bear this out. Sony came in third, behind the still piping-hot Nintendo Wii and Sony’s aforementioned chief thorn-in-side, Microsoft.

For the record, NPD reported domestic sales of 425,000 Nintendo Wiis, 170,000 Xbox 360s and 159,000 PlayStation 3s in July. Dave Karraker, the Sony spokesman who predicted the PS3 would overtake the 360, told me that: (1) He was only wrong by a bit, and (2) NPD doesn’t provide an exact count but estimates some portions of the market and (3) No, he would not care to make a prediction about August’s sales figures.

The results, in fairness to Sony, do represent a marked improvement relative to Microsoft. In June, PS3 sales were roughly half of Xbox 360’s 200,000.

Could it be that Sony’s price cut has shaken loose consumer demand?
While Microsoft and Sony battled it out for second place in the next-generation console competition, Nintendo continues to ride its less powerful processor, simpler graphics and gyration-inspiring game controller to fad-defying results. Nintendo’s July sales bested its June figures by around 50,000 units, further stumping analysts and video game software companies who keep waiting for the Wii to peter out.
At this point, predicting a quick demise for the Wii might not be the wisest maneuver; it’s something even the folks at Sony wouldn’t attempt — at least not this month.

P.S. The overall game market is on the mend, in a big way. Through July, domestic sales of hardware, software and accessories were $7 billion, up from $5 billion for the first seven months of 2006, NPD reported.

Whats the margin of error of NPD?

Just out of interest

I don't think NPD executives would change the numbers because they like or dislike one system (they might, however, do that to hurt their competition which is VGChartz). Some of their minions or retail partners or retail partners' minionsmight do that, or just count sloppy. If NPD really count the majority of sales in North America, 1000s of people are involved in the process, and I'm not sure if NPD is checking and rechecking every data point they collect the way they should.

FishyJoe,
Why would publishing crappy or fixed statistics be a federal crime?