The GameSpot data is very troubling. I am not sure what's going on.
It should be noted that
GameDaily reported the same rankings that we received from NPD. I am of the impression that GameDaily receives the top 20 directly from NPD, and was going by what they received, not what we put on Gamasutra.
I have double checked the spreadsheet I received from NPD over and over and over. Let me quote what it says:
TOP 20 VIDEO GAME TITLES
RANKED BY TOTAL U.S. UNITS
OCTOBER, 2008
Every music game on the list has an asterisk. Below the list it says this:
*Includes Collector's, Limited, Legendary, Bundles (Guitars) Editions
The only way this could still be right and the total figures given by GameSpot right as well is if we take the word "Guitars" literally and somehow the "Full Band" bundle was counted separately. Anyone else have some solutions?
Edit: I just went to check the
earlier MTV report, and it now says this:
[UPDATE #2: NPD has confirmed that the numbers they original numbers they provided to us for this story were incorrect. Their data now indicates that the 360 version edged out the Wii version.]
Edit 2: Meant to say that incorrect figures to MTV makes me wonder if I also got bum information. Or GameSpot? Or...
Edit 3: Wait, this whole problem goes away if that's really Rock Band 2 for Xbox 360 at #16, right? I think that must be the error.
Edit 4: No, that's not the problem. Sorry. If Rock Band 2 Xbox 360 and Rock Band 2 PS3 had essentially equal sales, they should both be above GHWT PS3. This is so broken.