Sales matter because this is an industry. There are very few people (like Jason Rohrer) making games as art, and none of those people are working for consoles. Even the most 'artistic' game is like an 'artistic' big-budget Hollywood movie. It's being sold for a profit.

If Sony sold a billion PS3s, then there would be more incentive for people to make good games for the PS3, and the PS3 would get better games for PS3 owners to enjoy. It all comes down to economics

 interesting comments.

to have a change of heart would be to imply that i once put a huge emphasis on sales.  to be honest i have no idea how many ps1's were sold nor how many ps2 were sold in competition with the original xbox.  i never cared about it.  i actually wanted saturn to beat the ps1.  the game library was what got me to eventually invest in the sony brand.  that strength of programming was what got me excited about what the ps2 would be able to do, and i thought that sony put more games that i liked over any other console maker. 

i didn't get involved in fanboyism during the ps2/xbox war because i honestly didn't see the crap that goes on today between fans.

i think someone earlier really hit the nail on the head about how people get vicarious glory from the console they like selling more.  i certainly can relate to that, but it is still pretty silly.  this is a phenomenon that i common in all walks of life, especially sports, but i guess i hoped gamers would be smarter than that (after all we are supposed to be nerdy geeks).

"Sales are useless" thread #3903803948032840...

In case you haven't noticed, we are on a sales website, in a sales forum.

I don't think sales are any indicator of quality, they are just interesting to compare.

You wish :)

And geeks are as much prone to useless confrontation as anybody else, they just tend to invest in different ego crutches than nationalists or sport fans or religious fundamentalists.

 the taint of humanity is a foul mark, indeed.

Hard to take that claim of wanting to pose a serious question for a legitimate discussion when you start off in your first post by calling people xbots.  Fanboy with a thesaurus is still a fanboy. 

If you never cared about sales before why do you care enough about them now to read sales discussions on a sales website and care enough about it feel the need to start a thread discussing it?  I believe you truly didn't care about sales you wouldn't even bother to read this forum.

I agree with the post you responded to, it sounds like a bunch of whining to me.

As to your Avril comment, give us a better example of actual GAMES you think sold exceptionally well that didn't deserve to.  I think you'll find the list is rather small.  Good games tend to sell well, bad games tend not to because the marketing mechanics of the games industry is vastly different than the music industry. 

...Did this OP (which had the poor taste to use "jihadesque milieu") just make a post about sales-based arguments, without addressing the Wii at all?

Hannah Montana Music Jam, Wii Fit, MotorStorm, Need for Speed Undercover.

Disagree with you on Wii Fit and MotorStorm was heavily bundled.  As I said, it's a small list.

I'm seeing more debate between graphics lately. OMG Uncharted 2 has the best graphics! No, Xbox will top it. Shut up, PS3 rules! Whatever, Gears 2 used 40 percent of the 360s power. Yeah right, B_E_L_I_E_V_E!

As far as I'm concerned sales wise, if a system doesn't totally and instantly flop like the virtua boy or 3DO or jaguar, then it is a moderate success. EVERY system released this generation already has enough of a fan base or is growing well enough to last out the full term. Arguing over this system sold more or that system sold less seems pointless when they are ALL successes in my opinion.

360 didn't go the way of the Dreamcast and it has sold more than the first box. Success.

PS3 is slow to pick up the sales Sony anticipates but it is obviously picking up steam over time. Success.

Wii.... well obvious. Success.

Anything else is just a penis measuring contest between fanboys.