I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of fanboys cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

How will the console flame wars continue?

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We will still end up with some sort of a picture from each companies monthly bragging.

Nintendo: "More mom's and girl's bought Wii's than all other consoles combined!!!1! This shows that Nintendo's blue ocean strategy is working!!!" - okay, Nintendo won hardware sales.

Microsoft: "Our attach rate is unprecedented! Software sales are up astronomically! Plus, Halo 3 is like teh best piece of software evar!" - Okay, Microsoft had the most games in the top ten.

Sony: "Err...the Play Station Brand is as strong as ever...with hardware unit sales...up like....2,000,000% over all. These...AWESOME...numbers show that Sony is still a force in the industry." - Hmm...PS2 still going strong, PS3 lost to the GBA again.


;-)

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Surely I'm not the only one who's actually glad this is happening?

I've all but given up on videogame discussion/debate since it's turned into nothing more than a sales figure pissing match over the last several years.

There was a time when simply mentioning a good game on an ailing system was enough to lend any pro-console argument some legitimacy. Now significant and/or excellent games like Dracula X Chronicles and Jeanne D'Arc are written off simply because the PSP isn't sales leader (to give but one example).

Gamers have turned into a bunch of weasely, whiny little he-bitches and I'm glad that this ammunition is being taken away from them. Maybe now sites like Kotaku will actually have to give real journalism a chance instead of gleefully pouring fuel over these ongoing fires.

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I don't like it. I think this sort of information is important for the public to know. And not just the whiny he-bitches, but rational people as well.

Investors should have access to this info so they know where to put their money, and more importantly, where NOT to put it. I was the only one in my group of friends who said "Put your chips on Nintendo." Everyone else was betting on Sony's PS3. (But then again, I was the only one paying attention to numbers. Everyone else was listening to their 14 year old sons.)

Consumers should have access to this info so they know what game systems are more likely to be supported by developers in the future. Strong sales = more software = longer console life = your initial investment stretching further.

And the non-gullible should have access to this info so game companies can't make up numbers and try to sell them as fact. You know they will if given the opportunity!

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Most consumers don't give two shits about sales numbers.

I'm sure anyone serious about investing can find other avenues to research these figures.

That leaves us with the obsessed, hardcore internet contingent whose disposition, manhood, social life, future with women, 15 minutes of fame, and just about everything else in their one-dimensional lives seems to be irrevocably tied to sales figures for their console of choice.

Face it, the world of gaming journalism and the simple act of discussion has gotten a lot bitchier over the last five years or so - and the constant influx of things like sales figures have everything to do with it. Look on any website, blog, or message board - people spend more time analyzing figures than they do discussing any other facet of gaming. And they use that knowledge for the express dual-purpose of A) pissing on various parades and B) fueling fires.

I say good riddance.

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Am I the only moron who always reads NPD as NYPD?
It can be quite confusing at times.

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