Oh right, right.

I had nearly forgotten about that crazy shit!

...Man, the DS is a monster.

They don't have to: like Microsoft and Sony, they have their own internal data. In fact, the article you linked to says this info comes from their "internal tracking numbers."

See also: the link I provided earlier.

Here is what I found

-- Wal-Mart had sold out of Wii consoles while it had PS3 and Xbox 360 units.
-- Target had plenty of consoles of all stripes.
-- The PS3 bundles led to a lot of sales at Gamestop while the Xbox 360s sat on the shelf.

While everyone is pointing to the new Wii price, remember that the PS3 also did a bunch of bundling.

Of course, it does not take much to know that finally getting an acceptable price point has helped the PS3 sales. Meanwhile, the other systems are having more difficult times than in the past because they have sold better previously.

Mike from Morgantown

umm kay

so Nintendo's numbers are 100% accurate due to that siras.com thingy?

I'll be happy as long as Wii breaks a million this week WW, which seems likely

Well actually, for the most part, internal tracking of that of companies is not actually them tracking it. I know this is a common misconception, but usually they get their numbers from outside sources. Remember, if they had a way of tracking numbers internally, then they would subscribe to things like NPD, Chart Track, GFK, etc. Meaning, more than likely, this is either some estimates they are using with help from NPD numbers, or just complete early estimates from that of NPD all together. Was the same thing last year when Ninty, MS, and Sony all released their numbers.

Now as for sales, this would putt Wii at about 650k-700k on the week with a 10% margin so our early estimates are within a good range and really not that far off at all. Don't understand the freak out. Same for the DS numbers as well. Why people are bringing up PS3 in this situation is silly as that doesn't have anything to do with the discussion. But considering our numbers are about the same as Ninty estimates/NPD estimates then really I don't see how that would affect PS3 estimates or any other console.

Same here. 

why not... I think it could be funny

Agressive bundling really helped Sony, but I doubt PS3 = Wii at all.

To be honest, I'm not 100% certain, but the way they presented siras makes me think that that's probably true. It'd certainly be the most accurate source available.

 You're correct that that's the case with most companies, but many large companies have their own, truly internal, tracking systems. It helps to resolve disputes with retailers, for starters, and it's useful to have more precise data on how your own merchandise is moving.

They DO subscribe to the services you've alluded to, but that's primarily to get an idea on how the competition is doing. It's also handy to cite to those sources (rather than your own), since this IS valuable data (so why just give it away?). Nevertheless, Nintendo in particular has released its internal figures on occasion, for reasons that I've never been able to completely fathom.