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[Polygon] Mario Kart 8 likely to be the worst-selling game in... what is that chart

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M

mclem

Member
Grief.exe said:
I haven't read the article, but I'm guessing they are comparing the Mario Kart sales to units of hardware sold.
Click to expand...

There are good charts to use to express that ratio.

A pie chart is not one of them.

A key aspect of a pie chart is that it charts a population of *the same* entities each of which has an important trait, and the segments group each trait together. "Copies of Mario Kart franchise games" and "Units of Nintendo hardware" are *not* the same sort of entity; they do not belong in the same pie chart.
 
J

JennyTablina

Member
Does it even matter? at the end of the day Mario Kart is one of Nintendo's "evergreen" titles, in that anyone who does get a Wii U has a very high likelyhood of adding Mario Kart 8 to their software collection at some point. Even if it bombs in the first week, it'll keep a stream of sale revenue coming in, and it's a Wii U title that will drive system sales.

Polygon's maybe right that by standards of normal game sale cycles, Mario Kart 8 has little chance of meeting previous sales targets in it's first week on sale (heck maybe even it's first year) - but that doesn't mean it'll be the worst *ever*
 
DirtyLarry

DirtyLarry

Member
BriBri said:
Why is videogame journalism generally so shitty?
Click to expand...
Because it exists to begin with.
I know this is an incredibly hypocritical stance to take, as being a member on this very site is proof positive I am part of the problem itself, however when one takes a step back and really looks at the overall situation, the fact there are hundreds of outlets to cover video game related news really is the root cause of the problem itself.

In reality video game news should be very, very simple:
  • Game is announced
  • Game is previewed
  • Game is released
  • Game is reviewed.
However because this industry does exist what should wind up being very simple winds up being overly complex. In order to sustain itself news that is not really relevant to the base enjoyment of video games themselves is reported on a daily basis. As such news that otherwise would not be important or relevant all of a sudden becomes so as without it, the video game news industry would be a very boring industry and nowhere near as massive in size as it is.

It really is the same for all entertainment industries to be fair. Movies. Television. Comics. The list goes on and on. It is however now such a part of our society there is not much at all that can be done or changed. People demand to know everything, and they always want to know it yesterday.

I admit I am no doubt part of the problem and not part of the solution, so I am a hypocrite, but I at least feel a tad better about things that I can publicly admit it.
 
H

-Horizon-

Member
Interceptor said:
pie.png





A lot of research went into this.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna need to see where you pulled this data from. I'm going to need calorie count, radius, as well as flavor.
 
Nymphae

Nymphae

Banned
Grief.exe said:
I have a felling the Polygon journalists would get embarrassed if they came here.
Click to expand...

No doubt, the only one I ever recall posting here was Gies, and he left after he lost a bet. For 10 measly dollars. He lost that bet on a technicality, but he should have been the better man and payed up. Instead, he takes his ball and goes home, and for the rest of his days makes jabs at Neogaf from Twitter.
 
H

HueyFreeman

Banned
You can't use a pie chart like that. This speaks to the average education level at Polygon, as pie charts are generally taught in late elementary/early junior high where I come from.
 
S

ShockingAlberto

Member
Nymphae said:
No doubt, the only one I ever recall posting here was Gies, and he left after he lost a bet. For 10 measly dollars. He lost that bet on a technicality, but he should have been the better man and payed up. Instead, he takes his ball and goes home, and for the rest of his days makes jabs at Neogaf from Twitter.
Click to expand...
And yet
 
Mengy

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
injurai said:
nintendo has no install base.

Honestly they should abandon the Wii U.
Click to expand...

Actually they have an install base of 6.1 million users, and are forecasting to have an installed base of 9.7 million by the end of the year.


So, you are wrong. :)


Now, if you had said they have a small and slowly growing install base, then yes you would be correct.
 
Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
I think the term "click-bait article" has been flying around a lot recently.

Either that or it's been a constant thing and I just haven't particularly noticed.
 
A

Atrophis

Member
So lets get this straight. Ben Kuchera, who cries about the accuracy of NPD and thinks we should stop paying attention to them, feels it is totally fine to allow this article to be published? An article based on chartzzzz numbers? Oh irony, thy name is Kuchera.
 
A

AdanVC

Member
I honestly feel bad for open that article and give them a damn click... So far this is the worst click-bait article title I've seen on 2014.
 
A

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Off-Kilter said:
WTF is that chart supposed to be?
Click to expand...


Clearly one out of every five hardware sales in the past 20 years has been the ever successful Mario Kart console. But the new Mario Kart game doesn't play on Mario Kart hardware, which was Nintendo's fatal mistake. Putting it on Wii U instead of Mario Kart will be their downfall.
 
K

Kriken

Member
I don't know which is worse about this, the fact that they made such a bold statement like the worst selling console will result in the worst selling Mario Kart, that God awful pie chart, or that their 'research' involved Chartz
 
P

Principate

Saint Titanfall
DirtyLarry said:
Because it exists to begin with.
I know this is an incredibly hypocritical stance to take, as being a member on this very site is proof positive I am part of the problem itself, however when one takes a step back and really looks at the overall situation, the fact there are hundreds of outlets to cover video game related news really is the root cause of the problem itself.

In reality video game news should be very, very simple:
  • Game is announced
  • Game is previewed
  • Game is released
  • Game is reviewed.
However because this industry does exist what should wind up being very simple winds up being overly complex. In order to sustain itself news that is not really relevant to the base enjoyment of video games themselves is reported on a daily basis. As such news that otherwise would not be important or relevant all of a sudden becomes so as without it, the video game news industry would be a very boring industry and nowhere near as massive in size as it is.

It really is the same for all entertainment industries to be fair. Movies. Television. Comics. The list goes on and on. It is however now such a part of our society there is not much at all that can be done or changed. People demand to know everything, and they always want to know it yesterday.

I admit I am no doubt part of the problem and not part of the solution, so I am a hypocrite, but I at least feel a tad better about things that I can publicly admit it.
Click to expand...

Honestly I think it's because of the nature of it (covering video games) and the respect the medium gets. The vast majority of aspiring journalists with high level qualification will not aim to be a Video game Journalist, it simply doesn't have the resect or in many regards pay that other mediums have. Conversely for many unqualified journalists it's a dream job you get paid to play and talk about games so to speak.

This results a small number of highly qualified journalists and an extremely high number of less qualified journalists. This wouldn't be so bad if the medium didn't take itself seriously (e.g tabloid newspapers), but sadly it does so it results in a bunch of journalists doing analysis on topics and with methods they are simply unqualified to competently do e.g this article.
 
I

Interceptor

Banned
-Horizon- said:
I'm gonna need to see where you pulled this data from. I'm going to need calorie count, radius, as well as flavor.
Click to expand...

I collected my sources to 63% from calorychartz and 50% from my brother in law. I you multiply it times 2 + the amount of yellow used, you get this piechart.

Science.
 
M

Mael

Member
mario_kart_pie_chart.jpg
Click to expand...
I'm just here to comment on this.
What the fuck, how the fuck did they manage to make this graph?
Seriously WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
This is the worst graph I've ever seen, it's brillant in how it manage to not say anything relevant and botch the presentation to boot.
I'm not kidding it's horrible, if I ever did this kind of stuffs at my job I'd be fired on the spot for gross incompetence.
 
H

hawk2025

Member
Atrophis said:
So lets get this straight. Ben Kuchera, who cries about the accuracy of NPD and thinks we should stop paying attention to them, feels it is totally fine to allow this article to be published? An article based on chartzzzz numbers? Oh irony, thy name is Kuchera.
Click to expand...



lol


Completely forgot about this.

Don't trust NPD, but... "here's the math" on Mario Kart 8!
 
C

Coconut

Banned
alr1ght said:
Wasn't the entire site built from ex-Kotaku people?
Click to expand...

I thought I was just crescente and their whole pitch was to be the opposite of the, kotaku-Internet-clicks, type of stuff. I don't really know I hardly look at these sites unless someone sends me a link asking what I think about it and then I proceed to hate read everything on the front page.

All I need is neogaf for game news it usually shows up here first, discussion is encouraged and it's help me train my brain to detect rumor garbage.

I really don't understand the point of Internet news sites when you can sign up for the same information these people at these websites get.

LegoArmo said:
Nintendo games have a lot more legs than most.
Click to expand...

Where are you getting that information?
 
P

Principate

Saint Titanfall
Mael said:
I'm just here to comment on this.
What the fuck, how the fuck did they manage to make this graph?
Seriously WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
This is the worst graph I've ever seen, it's brillant in how it manage to not say anything relevant and botch the presentation to boot.
I'm not kidding it's horrible, if I ever did this kind of stuffs at my job I'd be fired on the spot for gross incompetence.
Click to expand...

That's the thing he's not even an average joe journalist he's the goddamn editor and yet he's openly presenting that level of incompetence.
 
M

Metalmarc

Member
Hmm odd its not out yet, in fact I remember ignoring the Wii until Mario kart came out, and I went and bought a Wii just for Mario kart, I can't be the only one that's ever bought a console waiting for one particular game.

And I'm sure it will happen again, that and smash bros. And who knows after E3
 
R

ricardokenshin

Member
Mael said:
I'm just here to comment on this.
What the fuck, how the fuck did they manage to make this graph?
Seriously WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
This is the worst graph I've ever seen, it's brillant in how it manage to not say anything relevant and botch the presentation to boot.
I'm not kidding it's horrible, if I ever did this kind of stuffs at my job I'd be fired on the spot for gross incompetence.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hope it's brought to every polygon article discussion. It's just so terrible incompetent that you can't help but laugh.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
Mael said:
I'm just here to comment on this.
What the fuck, how the fuck did they manage to make this graph?
Seriously WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
This is the worst graph I've ever seen, it's brillant in how it manage to not say anything relevant and botch the presentation to boot.
I'm not kidding it's horrible, if I ever did this kind of stuffs at my job I'd be fired on the spot for gross incompetence.
Click to expand...

Video game journalism doesn't fire anyone for incompetence. They just happen to swarm together, like moths to a flame.
 
T

trixx

Member
okay...?

What is that graphic suppose to explain exactly. Obviously due to limited amount of console sales it will sell less. Why not compare adoption rates instead?
 
A

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Mael said:
I'm just here to comment on this.
What the fuck, how the fuck did they manage to make this graph?
Seriously WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
This is the worst graph I've ever seen, it's brillant in how it manage to not say anything relevant and botch the presentation to boot.
I'm not kidding it's horrible, if I ever did this kind of stuffs at my job I'd be fired on the spot for gross incompetence.
Click to expand...


You should work at Polygon. Gross incompetence gets you an editor position.
 
E

excaliburps

Press - MP1st.com
I honestly feel sorry for Nintendo now. From what I've read and seen, MK8 is just flat out awesome. So much so that I'm thinking of getting a Wii U just for it. Only thing keeping me away from that is I don't want to buy a console that will be barren in a year's time.

And yeah, Polygon is stating the obvious. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?

Edit: I concur, graph is just odd. Haha!
 
D

Dr.Bergenstein

Banned
Lernaean said:
I answered you to your earlier post but i can do it again.

First you call people who claim that if a game is good then it's not wasted 'Nintendo fans' and then you say that everything you say is because you care about Nintendo. You don't care, it's called concern-trolling and you ain't even good at it.

Secondly, if a game sees release and is playable then it's not wasted. The fact that you or anyone else don't want to buy the console that plays it does not make it wasted, it's your loss actually.

Third, you can find WiiU's for 200$, if that's what you were waiting for, your wish has come true.

I understand people not caring about Nintendo. I don't care about EA and they have millions of buyers, it's different tastes. What i don't do, because i feel it's cheap, is searching for threads criticizing EA for their wrong doings and jumping in to comment and have a laugh.
When i don't care, i don't care. Playing concerned is not my style.
Click to expand...

"Concern Trolling"? Are you really serious with that nonsense?

I wish like hell you could take a look at the bins of Nintendo stuff I'm currently storing in my parent's basement.

And I should buy a Wii U just to play a handful of 1st party games? What? Sorry, but I don't have the kind of disposable income to do that. Had Nintendo put out a competitive system this go-around, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy it over an Xbox One or PS4. Nintendo's own games still destroy their competitors' in the FUN department, and I value that much more than watching the newest Naughty Dogg movie or curb-stomping Locust with a steroid abuser.

My money and time are very limited. I only have room in my life for one console, and I'm not supporting a company that can't even get a proper account system setup on their console in 2014. Can't even get EA Sports games, and can't even price itself reasonably so that maybe I WOULD consider buying one.

$200? Where? Ebay? Sorry, I'm not giving that scam site any more of my money than I already have. Tell me when I can walk into a Gamestop or Best Buy and buy a Wii U for under $200 and maybe I'll reconsider.
 
P

Principate

Saint Titanfall
excaliburps said:
I honestly feel sorry for Nintendo now. From what I've read and seen, MK8 is just flat out awesome. So much so that I'm thinking of getting a Wii U just for it. Only thing keeping me away from that is I don't want to buy a console that will be barren in a year's time.

And yeah, Polygon is stating the obvious. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?
Click to expand...

There's something wrong with a news editor presenting that graph in article I assure you. It's the type of incompetence that gets you fired from any self respecting firm.
 
E

Easy_G

Member
My most important take away is that a not insignificant portion of GAF doesn't understand what is wrong with that pie chart, especially considering half of these fake pie charts are missing the point of what he did wrong.
 
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