Curious can anyone verify that Microsoft has actually said the following. I know the number had been brought up before, but the speculation was that the source had misinterpreted the numbers. However this article is claiming that Microsoft has claimed to have sold this many units. Did I miss something, or has someone misunderstood. I have hit this number roughly half a dozen times this weekend. So I have to ask is it genuine.

Earlier this month, financial analysts claimed that Nintendo's Wii has snapped the lead from Microsoft's next-gen system, while estimated figures also suggested that 10.7 million 360s had been sold to 11.3 million Wiis.

However, Microsoft has now declared worldwide sales of 11.6 million, with the American giant intending to sell a fair few million more before the end of the year off the back of killer-apps such as Halo 3 and Mass Effect.

http://www.jolt.co.uk/index.php?articleid=9610

I would not say jolt is fantastic, but they seem to do their homework. They often work from multiple sources, and they often carry news that slips through the cracks.  

Well, as far as I knew, MS shipped around 11.6~11.9 up until June 30th.

However, it's possible that MS was stating sold to retailer numbers.

Or, it could even be possible that MS has actually sold that many, having larger PAL numbers than expected. But it's difficult to say, PAL and other territory numbers are so hard to track.

Like always MS is almost certaintly just stating their sold to retail numbers and not sold to consumers numbers. They never quote their consumer numbers, only retail.

If sony numbers are tracked by sold to retailer, then M$ numbers are tracked to sold by retailers(even though it sounds stupid since we all know there arent only 500k x360's on store sheleves World wide).

It could be sold units, but Nintendo will say it sold more then the numbers indicate and Sony will say it has sold more then the numbers indicate (Sony I think said they were well over 5.5 Million last week).

In the end it doesn't really matter how many consoles are sold, it matters how much the user base buys games and accessories afterwards. Later in the console war that will keep the console in the war, not how many total consoles have been sold.

I think it's the same as this thread :
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?start=50&id=7247

Unfortunately Jolt seems very aware of the difference between shipped to retailers, sold to consumers, and manufactured. They are one of the few sites to make a point of citing the manufacturing numbers. So while there is a chance they misunderstood what was being said. They are not the first that would pop to mind to make a foolish mistake. Which means probably someone said something to that effect.

According to the article someone at the TGS said this, and jolt is fast to rescind incorrect articles. So being that it is still there without a correction means they feel it is correct. Like I said rather reliable site for information.

Anyway I suppose I will have to look into this myself. There has to be some concrete statement out there as to this effect if it is true.

Right now we will have difficulty determining who is leading mainly because the system sales and margin of errors of both cosoles overlaps ... Essentially, if you say that the XBox 360 has sold 11.1 Million units +- 0.5 Million and the Wii has sold 11.8 Million units +- 0.5 Million you have to accept the possibility that Microsoft has sold 11.6 Million units and Nintendo has only sold 11.3 Million units.

Soon enough the Wii will pass the XBox 360 with the marigin of error included.

UPDATE]: Microsoft PR has sent an e-mail clarifying that the 11.6 million Xbox 360 figure is actually a reference back to the shipped figures released in July, even though this latest release specifically uses the term "sold." Next-Gen has contacted Microsoft for further clarification.


[UPDATE 2]: Microsoft PR had the following to say about "shipped vs. sold": "To clarify, we report our global sales figures as sold into retail which means our products have been sold and delivered to the retailer. Not sure why 'shipped' was used in July but it is not our standard reporting policy."

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7224&Itemid=2

Mystery solved should pass that along to Jolt.

Dodece if you read the page of the thread I give you , your suppose " mystery " would be resolve a few hours ago