Cant wait to see the PS3 on that list!

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one thing i've allway wondered about with the ds's is what percantige of sale's are people replaceing there ds fat for a ds lite and how many are new users

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I always enjoy reading sales figures that Joystiq sites publish, being always amazed about precision of this data - down to one single unit! It also often looks bogus to me.

Can anybody explain me what kind of credibility this company (Media Create) has and why exactly all Joystiq sites put so much trust into them? Are there any reasons to thik that these guys from Media Create do not simple pull these numbers out of thin air, i.e. simply make them up? Becides crappy web site which seems has been done by someone on his/her kitchen; the web site does not say much on how they collect thier data, which stores they call and what parts of Japan they cover. I started wondering about them becasue there were few cases when thier data smelled very fishy.

There some other sources of such data: these are huge, massive electronics chains that sell games in Japan. These are BIC CAMERA, YODABASHI CAMERA and TSUTAYA. We can safely assume that 70-80% of all games sales goes through them, these people are one every corner of every city. They publish top 10 ranking every week as well.

If we compare data from Media Create with these companies we will see that they have significant differences. I am looking only on game sales here.

This is an overal top games sales data from Yodabashi camera:

http://www.yodobashi.com/enjoy/more/productslist/cat_219_24783042/8209161.html

You can see that it has _nothing_, even remotely close to the data that Media Create reports. There are much fewever DS titles more PS and PS2 titles and PSP titles are complestely different.

This is top 10 from Tsutaya:
http://lx02.www.tsutaya.co.jp/catalog/book/genre.pl?item=176&gr1=27
again nothing even close to Medea Create. But also very different from Yodabashi.

BIC camera does not run overall list of games but it runs games by the platform. For example in PSP:
http://www.biccamera.com/bicbic/jsp/w/check/recommend.jsp?DISP_CATEGORY_ID=572030&BACK_URL=game/index.jsp
The top sales in PSP is Metal Gear Solid (preoders) not ACE Combat as in Medea Create. On Media Create list Metal Gear Solid does not exist while ACE Combat is only 4th on BIC CAMERA.

The DS top list from BIC CAMERA is also interesting, unlike Media Create it does not even feature New Mario Brothers, which also correlates wuth my observations: that is over and done with, no body buys it here anymore. Its an old game. On Media Create it in the top 6. How this is possible?

At the same time Meda Create misses a bunch of titles that just came out in Japan and are popular, such as camera software and GPS. This popularity is sporadic, and wil go down soon, but Media Create is one-week based list, it should show something new, not the same old bullshit like Mario Brothers and Gundam. Games are much more dynamic business.

Basically, I doubt credibility of this site and all their reports on game/hardware sales. I do not think they are reliable. That would also explain why data game sales in the US is so different from Japan. It may also explain the mystery of the gap between shipped and sold, i.e. where are those millions of PSPs are floating. Finally, it will also explain why i can not many references on them in JAPANESE game news. It seems that mostly forigehn websites and blogs that are referring them.

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Hey this is not that bad at all , the PSP is having a stable 20-25 million sales /weeak , and where is christmas . And yes Killblogers is right , there are just to many ,, floating`` PSPs in the market , so no , Im not reliing on this calculs either . But even as his , the PSP has a solid selling :)

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Oops , sorry , I meant 20-25 thousend units .

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@Killbloggers, Media Create has been a trusted source for many years.

As you can see it is pretty obvious that the DS is caning the PSP in japan, so there is pretty much nothing to talk about. I honestly don't think that they would just make it out of thin air. If they were Nintendo supporters then they would put the GCN in front of the PS2.

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@Killbloggers

I looked at those sites that you posted and they look like Amazon.com top ten lists, which means they are only a snapshot of what the top selling games are. Which also means those lists are only tracking online sales and not the sales that occur in the store.

Furthermore, Media Create only reports games that are actually in the hands of the consumer, which means you definitely won't see a game like Metal Gear on the Media Create charts because Metal Gear hasn't been released yet.

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DS Lite outselling PSP more than 4 to 1, whats new? Look at the 360 go! As pathetic as the number is, its still amazing considering the 360's reputation in Japan. Who knows, maybe Japan will finally give MS a chance afterall. I wouldnt bet on it though.

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@Aeron

Meaningless argument. What is your trust based on? Did you examine thier data collection methods? Do you know these people? The history is littered with "trusted" companies that turned out to be compleate scums. You believe them for no other reason that you WANT to belive them. You can as well beleieve in Santa.

And I do not say that they are pronintendo: it does not make you any money to be pro-something. But they could easily be a viral project run by a PR company, similar to some trade magazine.

And the point is not sales numbers really. Yes, DS Lite sells more then PSP in Japan, that does not bother me at all. Apple sells even less Macs compared to PCs and so what? Who gives a crap. The problem is with "gaming community" that has zero ability to think critically and agnozises about some numbers that noone knows where came from.

@ Powerbomb

And this is just an example. First, i doubt that you can read Japanese, so you conclusions that its like Amazon is pure fantasy. These are real retail stores similar to Circuit City, that where i bought my PS3 two days ago. They publish real sales in the store on their web sites, preorder (which here means that you pay for the game in advance) is a sale to them as well. Second, Media Create claims that they track sales of games IN GENERAL. that must incluse on-line sales as well and if they do not include on-line sales then thier numbers are just total bullshit. Who cares where they game was sold on-line ot in store. Finally, i do not know what you mean by "in the hands of the customer" but Media Create simply tracks sales in the store, which means it reports what stores told them. If stores report games that they are going to be mailed to customers in a couple of weeks then Media Create will report it as it has no means to check what stores tell. Heck, stores can tell anything: i can not see on the web site of Media Create if and how they are veryfing data.

Media Create report = some numbers written by some guys which they got noone knows how that we are suppoused to believe, becasue of what?

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Killbloggers,

No wonder you have a -1 star, no offense.

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