yes it will sell more than the ps2, but I wouldnt put them into the same catagory

pfff you know perfectly well why not. DS is a portable! It's that simple. It caters to many additional markets compared to home consoles. You don't buy a home console if you're going traveling. you don't buy a home console if you don't have a television set (for instance in Norway, you are obligates to pay the government a yearly subscription for their TV channels when you buy a television set, thus many students do no have a television set). there are also a bigger chance that families with 2 kids buy 2 DSs. You can't play 2 player on one handheld but you can on a home console, so two brothers will be more likely to have 2 DSs than 2 similar home consoles. also little children, like my 2 and a half year old cousin, are more likely to get a DS than a home console. home consoles also tend to be way more expensive.

I'm not downplaying the DS's QUALITY here. I'm traveling right now, to DS heaven to be more precise, and of course I brought my DS and PSP. DS have quality games and is a quality platform no doubt about that. but comparing handheld sales to a home consoles sales is not justified imo. If however, the Wii surpasses it, it is an amazing achievement.

also at the sales Soriku presented. are you sure they are right? about 2 years ago I read somewhere that the PS2 had already surpassed 140 million units. but of course, that could very well be wrong!

also the DS will surpass the PS2 in 10-24 months depending on what the real PS2 numbers are.

Well I don't see the point in separating it by home console and portable console. Both compete on the same market with the same potential consumers. I guess only difference would be is that a home console could be seen as "1 per household" and portables as "1 per person" but considering the best selling system is a home console it is hard to see that as completely relevant.

It does seem the DS will pass up the PS2 in sales by about August or September timeframe if everything goes smoothly which there is no sign that it won't. Shipments will surpass it sometime at the end of the year.

I do agree with another notion that PS2 sales and shipments don't seem to match up all that well which could potentially mean we are under tracking PS2 sales over some extent of time in its lifecycle or potentially a misunderstanding of PS2 shipment numbers (has been out for 9 years).


I do think the most important thing we can get out of this is timeframe though. Consider how long it took PS2 to accomplish this and how long it took DS to accomplish this. That is where the main difference in comparison is if you ask me. DS has just sold at rates that are unheard of.

Dang I was going to make this thread when the Gap is 10 million. When will it outsell it? Well I can see it do it in the summer

This however is VERY relevant! For instance my best friend has 2 younger brothers. The family has 1 NEs, 1 SNES, 1 N64, 1 GC, 1 Wii, 6 gameboys (GBC and GB) and 4 DSs. So they have bought 4 times the DSs compared to any home console they own. The same goes for any family I know of. Each family member (mostly kids) have 1 handheld each and 1 home console for sharing. How many families with 3 or more kids are there in the world? all which are potentially 3 DS buying families???

and even though the PS2 had the slim version, you have to consider: DS, DSLite, DSi, DS LL (or whatever...) which all bring new features to the console and should almost be tracked separately imo ( not really, but almost =P )

also, the home console market has more competition with 3 or more consoles on the market, while the handheld market only has 2 competitors.

Are you sure?

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=1582&region=All

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=4022&region=All

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=82&region=All

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=1254&region=All

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=4030&region=All

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=4025&region=All

Of course some titles sell high numbers also on handhelds but just look vgchartz total software sales and then attach rate. You can see what I meant. Huge Japan software numbers help little DS compared to other handhelds before but when you for example compare american sofware sales you can see what I meant. X360 has sold almost the same amount of software with half the userbase. (DS was also launched before X360)

Well I can't consider you ancedotal sales trend to really say much abou the rest of the world but I would agree home console more for a family while portable console more for an individual.  But that isn't somethign I can prove just an instinctual feeling of how I think it would be.  But doesn't mean they shouldn't be compared on the same level.  Both are onthe market and are selling to people interested in gaming entertainment.  Just because one appeals to more potential customers doesn't mean we should handicap the other one haha. 

Fair enough.

alright, we all have our different opinions. I would however, never think of handhelds and home consoles as being in the same market.. imo it's an unfair comparison. it is highly unlikely to see a family with 3 kids having 3 PS2s connected to their television set, but you could easily picture the same 3 kids with their own DS while on family vacation. if you can't see this as anything other then anecdotal, then I have nothing more to say =) i see this as obvious.

or let's say guys living together in the college dorms or in an apartment. they are more likely to share home console. you read it on forums all the time: "I have a X360/PS3/Wii on my dorm, so I don't need to buy one for myself". however, how often do you see: "i'm living together with a guy that has a DS so I don't need to buy one for myself"? IMO two similar devices, but still operating in VERY different markets. handhelds are not considered as direct competitors to home consoles for a reason. why don't people talk about the DS or PSP when talking about X360/PS3/Wii?? because they're not relevant in the home console picture. therefore I believe without a doubt that the handheld market and home console market should be considered as two separate markets.

for instance, even though a bit different, i do not consider cell phones and regular phones being in the same market. still they deliver the same services and cater to people who want a phone. or what about laptops vs stationaries? same market? NO IMO!