Monster Hunter G Gives Wii a Sales Boost In Japan

PS3s taken over EDIT:On consoles

Ah I love seeing the PSP, err I mean the Wii selling well.

Technically, the DS is beating the PSP (if you add LIte to DSi sales.)

Wow. I had a good moment going and you just crapped all over it. Thanks.

I don't know about others here, but I'd greatly prefer if this site didn't link to the likes of Kotaku. Giving that kind of blog any legitimacy severely damages the brand you're building up as a uniquely independent site that usually avoids most of the sheer idiocy you can find on other big gaming sites, Kotaku being a prime example.

Also, if anyone is looking for sales numbers and other statistical information, avoid Kotaku like the plague and instead visit http://www.vgchartz.com/ They maintain a tremendous amount of information regarding worldwide sales on a weekly and life-to-date basis, and even include some interesting tools to let you compare sales of specific games, etc.

Kotaku only posts a half-coherent sales numbers article on those occasions where a Sony system actually comes out on top in Japan, and of course they neglect to mention that (1) the Wii and DS each have sold well over double the PS3 and PSP to date in Japan, respectively, (2) the DS also has more than double the ratio of games sold to systems sold, so its software sales have more than quadrupled the PSP to date in Japan, (3) the Wii also has a higher tie ratio for games per console than the PS3 in Japan, (4) the holiday boost Nintendo gets in Japan is always many times larger than Sony, so any small leads in some months of the year are completely erased and even exceed around December -- even when the Wii has a less spectacular holiday season than usual, like 2008, it still outsold the PS3 by at least 100,000 units a week.

@Objection_Blaster

Yes, the DS should be on the top of that list, 43k > 41k, but you can leave it to Kotaku to split the DS sales while keeping the PSP hardware versions together as one unit in order to give the illusion of a PSP victory.

I like how these sales figures always stir up the fanboys. I think that's why Damo keeps posting them.

Sales figures are fine, but the point is that you should take better responsibility for where you get your information, and pulling the latest Kotaku headline couldn't be further from journalistic integrity.

I've never visited the Kotaku site so I'm not terribly familiar with their policies. I just pay very little attention to sales figures.

warioswoods: VGChartz is notorious for pulling numbers out of their ass, they aren't a valid source for anything and they get no insider information, any actual data they post was posted on another site first.

@KDR_11k
No, VGChartz pulls their information from a variety of sources, including all the sources used by sites like Kotaku but many others as well, which helps to give a fairly balanced overview of sales, and their numbers have always matched quite closely to official announcements by the companies. It's an aggregation that generally gives you the best estimates available; where or not you like that strategy, it's greatly superior to a site like Kotaku that just grabs a number here and there to make a flamebait-headline.

Kotaku's numbers, Damo, are not technically invalid and I never said that; it's their overall reporting which is absolutely abysmal -- reporting involves more than numbers. The way that they spin every sales report, their incredibly inane analysis across the board, their utter incompetence as writers, and their constant "bewbs" articles are more than enough evidence that they are not a site to be taken seriously on any level.

They also have a notoriously idiotic stream of reader comments on their site, if you've ever scrolled down past the article, who represent their base and are predominantly spill-over from sites like 4chan.

If you want the conversation about gaming to take an enormous step backwards and to more closely mirror the level of discourse found on 4chan or amongst the adolescents on Xbox Live, while moving further and further away from intelligent journalism, by all means support Kotaku.

VGChartz isn't really a trustworthy source for sales numbers.

@ News: A rise of 5'000 is a kick up the arse? Then what was the increase of the PS3 numbers last week?

18'000 units are not really good when you keep in mind that Monster Hunter G was released, a game which sold over 100'000 copies.

@ warioswoods: Here you have a good analysis about VGChartz.com:

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/06/analysis_what_vgchartz_does_and.php

@Gizmo

My point was that, given Kotaku's ineptitude, bias, etc, visiting VGChartz for your sales information is a better idea. Your article simply contends that you should use VGChartz carefully where they are projecting for lower-sale games, since no one really has accurate information in that area, or projecting too soon, before various groups like MediaCreate have weighed in with their numbers. They do, however, correct their numbers, as your article notes, anytime they conflict with a major source like NPD. So, if the info you're looking for is out there, you'll get the best, latest numbers on VGChartz, but if you look early while data is still being compiled, or if you look at data for games with low sales that are hard to track, you will only get projections that can be faulty.

Now, that fits perfectly with my claim that it would be better to hit VGChartz for you sales info than Kotaku. Kotaku will, as I noted, only pick numbers for flamebait articles, and will not provide any information beyond what you can also get on VGChartz. Plus, Kotaku has many other problems that I covered above.

VGChartz isn't perfect, but it's a reasonable source for data that is well maintained; it's a far better idea to go there, understanding that it combines real numbers with projections, than to go to a gaming blog like Kotaku, which will never provide you a balanced or intelligent analysis of anything. I'd be up for any further suggestions for a place to search gaming sales numbers, but the point is that you'll have to avoid Kotaku, Joystiq, etc if you want anything resembling journalism.

@warioswoods, or should we call you vgturdz flak? it is very well known how vgsquirtz gets its information. it lies about its methodology and never properly cites when it adjusts to reflect sales from the real data folks out there. kotaku IS a news site. vgcrapz is NOT a news site nor is it a trustworthy source for information ............. any information at all. its a site run by hacks for hacks. nothing more

@Keyboard
brilliant

@get2sammyb

Hm, it appears that you haven't read all the points above, or that you weren't quite up to the task of following the course of the argument. As I said more than once, Kotaku's numbers are not false and are not fabricated; the problem lies in their ability to interpret them and in their terrible cherry-picking of data. Quoting legitimate numbers and bending them to create misleading headlines on a regular basis does not a respectable news source make. I know that standards are low on the web, and particularly in the gaming community, but we should try to have some integrity and, more importantly, competent writing.

Now, VGChartz on the other hand, is a mixed bag in some ways but does keep fairly reliable records of sales going back years, and can be useful to get an overview. Real news sources have referenced it many times, including Forbes, Fortune, The New York Post, and The New York Times. It's not perfect, but if you're intelligent enough to sort through the mix of projection and settled aggregate numbers, it can be quite helpful.

I never stated that VGChartz is the perfection of game statistics, but is impressive and useful and, more to the point, far better as a source than Kotaku, which is not an "excellent source" for anything intelligent.

just as i thought. warioswoods = vgcrapz troll confirmed. nypost nytimes forbes blah blah blah it is funny how vgschmutz hangs its hat on a random mention in major news places that happened along time ago. its about repetition and reliablity with people and media not random usage that you milk to DEATH. go crawl under that hole you came from/

@19, Keyboard

Please calm down. Why do you have to go crazy all because warioswoods uses vgchartz & thinks it's a good source? You think all people that use vgchartz, especially the ones that go to the forums are idiots? I'm kinda offended by your comment, please be less harsh next time.

@Keyboard
Dang, you figured out my radical pro-VGChartz agenda. They will surely love my rave endorsements; real book-liner material here:

"... includes some interesting tools"
"useful to get an overview
"...projections that can be faulty"
"They do, however, correct their numbers"
"...a mixed bag in some ways"
"fairly reliable records"

Now, when can I expect my PR compensation?

Also, if anyone is looking for sales numbers and other statistical information, avoid Kotaku like the plague and instead visit http://www.vgchartz.com/

Did someone really just recommend VGChartz?
What's next, Wikipedia?

Damo, keep doin' your thing.
We don't need members of the site deciding for the staff what's reliable and what's not.

Hmmm, I won't be surprised if Keyboard later gets banned for his smart *** comments.

@AlexSays

Good comparison; Wikipedia and VGChartz are a lot alike. They're both enormously useful resources so long as you know how to use them properly. They both provide a pretty good, well organized overview in many areas, have weaknesses in others, and put the burden on the user to follow up on any specific information with outside sources.

If you wanted, say, to learn about the career of a particular politician, you'd do well to start with Wikipedia, being cautious as usual and following up with other sources. If you tried to get factual overviews on politicians from any strongly-opinionated and unprofessionally run politics blog out there, however, you'd be making a grave mistake that is precisely parallel to looking for game sales numbers on Kotaku. I don't think it can be made any clearer than that.

Yeah that's where I was going with that.

Nobody worry about having some huge debate about this, because the staff isn't going to eliminate a source for the preference of a certain member.

Edit: Since we're talking though about the direction this site is going in and what we don't like about it...
What's up with the advertisements? One click and I see a dating ad and the next I see one for Biggest Loser?

Are you implying us NintendoLife users are all overweight AND need help getting laid? lol

I wouldn't expect too much of a boost from Monster Hunter G, after all this is a port of a PS2 game which any rabid Monster Hunter fan in Japan already has. Monster Hunter Tri will be the one to watch for a sales boost; if that fails to happen we can probably conclude the franchise in Japan is really only popular on portables now...

Sony is awesome, no doubt about it. PS3 is amazing and Nintendo has serious competition when PS3 cuts price worldwide. E3 should be VERY interesting.