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GameSpot: DS tops 3 million units sold worldwide
- Thread starter Izzy
- Start date
DCharlie
And even i am moderately surprised
sorry, i was stuck in my own little bubble here in Japan.
Just to recap - PSP at 1.2 million, DS at 2.x ?
What are the US sales figures?
I know they've shipped 3 million apparently, but there must be stock everywhere in the US too. There certainly is here at last.
I guess we are just waiting for the big game to come along that'll drive the sales up (any word of GT4M, WE8 ?)
and getting the sales figures wrong!
Just to recap - PSP at 1.2 million, DS at 2.x ?
What are the US sales figures?
I know they've shipped 3 million apparently, but there must be stock everywhere in the US too. There certainly is here at last.
I guess we are just waiting for the big game to come along that'll drive the sales up (any word of GT4M, WE8 ?)
and getting the sales figures wrong!
Greg Kasavin
But 'saw more potential' is just another way of saying you like PSP more. Which would be fine if you didn't base your coverage on that preference. However as you just said you do, in which case how can you call that unbiased coverage? The very fact that you get more hits for PSP related info should already tell you something about your site when you consider how much bigger DS's user base is.
BTW could you explain to me why you and your fellow staff members at GameSpot persist in comparing sold DS numbers to shipped PSP numbers?
But 'saw more potential' is just another way of saying you like PSP more. Which would be fine if you didn't base your coverage on that preference. However as you just said you do, in which case how can you call that unbiased coverage? The very fact that you get more hits for PSP related info should already tell you something about your site when you consider how much bigger DS's user base is.
BTW could you explain to me why you and your fellow staff members at GameSpot persist in comparing sold DS numbers to shipped PSP numbers?
captmcblack
Member
So, this isn't a Game Informer-like level of "wtf"-style infamy going down here yet, right? I'm just waiting for that to start. :lol
captmcblack said:
I dunno... I'd say it's worse... At least Game Informer admits they try to guess how the market will react to a game and factor that into the rating. Gamespot still is pretending to be unbiased.
Now, I don't want to make "bias" sound like a curse word. Obviously, it's not illegal to have an opinion. I certainly have mine... The problem is that these people are journalists that purport to cover the industry without one.
I guess the lesson here is that you have to take what they say with a huge grain of salt.
Date of Lies
Banned
Gamespot has become even worse than IGN.
Society said:
You took a couple of sentences of mine out of context, and then misinterpreted them. Thanks, Society.
I wrote that response right around the time of the PSP launch. Are you're saying it was unjustified to cover the PSP launch extensively? Or are you saying we should have adopted an eye-for-an-eye style of policy with respect to the PSP and DS, where we should never permit there to be more coverage of one system or the other? If it's the latter, then why stop at those two systems? Should we be covering the N-Gage and the Gizmondo as much as the PSP and the DS?
If you or any of you have suggestions or criticisms of GameSpot, its content, or its editorial standards, I invite you to email me at greg@gamespot.com and share your thoughts with me, and in turn, I will take them seriously.
As for the news story, we amended the facts and quickly issued a public apology, as many of you noticed.
I've got a PSP and don't have any interest in getting a DS at all, but I do remain a fan of Nintendo's and I can't help but feel their machine is getting dicked over repeatedly by the US press. It's a shame really -- not that Gamespot was necessarily at fault here, particularly if it was a misrepresentation by Nintendo UK, but they (and others) are definitely guilty of painting a rosier picture for the PSP while giving the DS the short end of the stick.
kasavin said:
That would be a good example of an unbiased media source, in theory. I mean it is not for you to decide what the gamers want, but to provide an unbiased report on the video game industry. You posted a Sony article on their financials without mentioning Nintendo, why can you not post an article on Nintendo's success in the hand held market without mentioning PSP?
I am not suggesting N-Gage and Gizmondo cover stories, just news coverage and reviews, in the case of Gizmondo a simple link to the Gizmondo section (http://www.gamespot.com/gizmondo/) would be a good start.
I've said what I noticed about Gamespot a few months ago, but no one listened to me it seemed, so I'll say this again:
Everytime a new Sony system launches, you can expect Gamespot to give all attention to it but ignore and badmouth everything else. That's why I suspect Gamespot do receive moneyhat from Sony, just to hurt the competition and max Sony sales potential as much as possible.
I.E. At the PS2 launch, around the same time they gave Shenmue only a 6.8 and Zelda: Majora's Mask a 8.2. And at the PSP launch, they gave Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat a 7 and a 7.2 to Yoshi's Touch and Go and the same to Wario Ware: Touched.
Looking back the majority of us can agree that they're all excellent games and deserve much better scores. But many gamers in the world(I was one of them) trusted Gamespot so we just thought they're bad games and ignored them, so a lot of these great games bombed hard, and even tragically some series like Shenmue and Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat singlehandedly destroyed by the corrupted Gamespot.
After so many years of gaming and seeing so many gaming sites, even a Sony fan like me can see that Gamespot is obviously a Sony fanboy central. Once the best gaming site imo is no more, all is left is the biased previews and reviews, shady and flatout wrong news report, all just in favor of Sony because they worship them. I see Gamespot only getting worse and worse over the years so I just have to rant. And as a Sony fan I'm not happy, because now all I get are overrated PS2/PSP games that I regretted buying, plus missing out a lot of good games on the other side of gaming. And reading this thread is just another sad day in the journalism of the gaming industry.
Everytime a new Sony system launches, you can expect Gamespot to give all attention to it but ignore and badmouth everything else. That's why I suspect Gamespot do receive moneyhat from Sony, just to hurt the competition and max Sony sales potential as much as possible.
I.E. At the PS2 launch, around the same time they gave Shenmue only a 6.8 and Zelda: Majora's Mask a 8.2. And at the PSP launch, they gave Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat a 7 and a 7.2 to Yoshi's Touch and Go and the same to Wario Ware: Touched.
Looking back the majority of us can agree that they're all excellent games and deserve much better scores. But many gamers in the world(I was one of them) trusted Gamespot so we just thought they're bad games and ignored them, so a lot of these great games bombed hard, and even tragically some series like Shenmue and Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat singlehandedly destroyed by the corrupted Gamespot.
After so many years of gaming and seeing so many gaming sites, even a Sony fan like me can see that Gamespot is obviously a Sony fanboy central. Once the best gaming site imo is no more, all is left is the biased previews and reviews, shady and flatout wrong news report, all just in favor of Sony because they worship them. I see Gamespot only getting worse and worse over the years so I just have to rant. And as a Sony fan I'm not happy, because now all I get are overrated PS2/PSP games that I regretted buying, plus missing out a lot of good games on the other side of gaming. And reading this thread is just another sad day in the journalism of the gaming industry.
Meier said:
Agree totally. The more they keep arguing how they're unbiased is so funny. :lol
The bias and fanboyism are clear as day.
Exactly. Reading gaming news in the interent and gaming mags, PSP articles all make me think the DS doesn't exist, while reading a DS article seem like I'm actually reading a PSP article. :\
Game journalism are just horrible these days.
The Faceless Master
Member
i think it's just that the hardcore gamer hearts inside the gaming media wants the PSP to be #1 and will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal...Meier said:
Is there any way to calculate the tie ratio for the DS when INCLUDING GBA GAMES TOO!? Jesus, that pisses me off. A lot of people bought the DS as their first GBA player. I'm sure that's a large portion of sales.
Edit:
Having just read Kasavin's response, I have to laugh a little inside. You've admitted a PSP-slant.
Edit:
Having just read Kasavin's response, I have to laugh a little inside. You've admitted a PSP-slant.
LegendofJoe
Member
I think Greg is one of the best reviewers in the industry, but that was piss poor reporting full of biases and journalistic slant. I'll remind myself never to read news reports from GS again.
Myoclonic Jerk
Member
GameSpot said:
,
norinrad21
Banned
Oh Gamespot is not going to get away with this one, they've been screwing up for a while now, its like they have a hidden agenda against anything Nintendo related, Its quite possible the whole staff is on Sony's payroll. They have deliberately avoided getting in trouble with huge Nintendo releases so they try to sweep things under the carpet but you can still smell BS in there.
GS and People like Matt-IGN with community college degrees shouldn't be allowed anywhere near good constructive journalism.
Its absolutely ridiculous to compare the amount of Nintendo DS hardware sold to PSPs shipped amount.
hey we know you like the PSP more even though Nintendo's shitty two face handheld is kicking your high end gadget's ass but stop but you don't have to shove your love for the PSP under the throat of your readers.
GS and People like Matt-IGN with community college degrees shouldn't be allowed anywhere near good constructive journalism.
Its absolutely ridiculous to compare the amount of Nintendo DS hardware sold to PSPs shipped amount.
hey we know you like the PSP more even though Nintendo's shitty two face handheld is kicking your high end gadget's ass but stop but you don't have to shove your love for the PSP under the throat of your readers.
I guess there's nothing *to* be done about it exactly... It's really just demonstrative of the sorry state of game "journalism" in general. I mean this is an exceptionally dubious case, to be sure, but it's not exactly shocking so much as it's disheartening.
There are no laws that say Gamespot has to be a reputable organization, but there are similarly no laws that say we have to regard them as one. Clearly, beyond a doubt, there is a bias there, so you have to do what you would do with any news source and filter the information they provide to you through your knowledge of that bias.
It would be better if they didn't continue to act unbiased though... I get the impression they judge NINTENDO and not the game in question in many of their reviews of Nintendo's games, attacking the design philosophies of the company as much as the content of the software that's supposed to be under scrutiny, and it's certainly reflected in their review scores (as I pointed out, there are something like a dozen cell phone games in the last 6 months that have scored higher than ANY DS game... and I don't even need to bring up the PSP scores!).
There's nothing inherently wrong with being a fanboy. Plenty of posters on this board that I respect fess up to being fanboys. It's when people blatantly lie about their biases under the guise of objectivity that I have to roll my eyes at them and start questioning what it is they're really trying to say...
There are no laws that say Gamespot has to be a reputable organization, but there are similarly no laws that say we have to regard them as one. Clearly, beyond a doubt, there is a bias there, so you have to do what you would do with any news source and filter the information they provide to you through your knowledge of that bias.
It would be better if they didn't continue to act unbiased though... I get the impression they judge NINTENDO and not the game in question in many of their reviews of Nintendo's games, attacking the design philosophies of the company as much as the content of the software that's supposed to be under scrutiny, and it's certainly reflected in their review scores (as I pointed out, there are something like a dozen cell phone games in the last 6 months that have scored higher than ANY DS game... and I don't even need to bring up the PSP scores!).
There's nothing inherently wrong with being a fanboy. Plenty of posters on this board that I respect fess up to being fanboys. It's when people blatantly lie about their biases under the guise of objectivity that I have to roll my eyes at them and start questioning what it is they're really trying to say...
PkunkFury
Member
Meier said:
It's true, there isn't anywhere a genuine fan of the DS can go to read good news or a solid review that isn't full of whining and bitching about why the hardware itself shouldn't exist and what should've been changed before releasing it. Really, I don't understand. The japanese audience is gobbling this machine up and the press over there love it. Here we have to go to (shudder) Nintendo Power or the like to read input on a new game that doesn't compare it to the PSP in some asanine way.
Yet people here are still buying the DS, and they are buying it at around the same rate they are purchasing the PSP. This'll fluctuate for awhile, and eventually PSP may catch up, but there is still a large population of people who willingly purchased a DS despite the onslaught of negative press, and every place they go for news and reviews treats them like they're idiots.
And it's no wonder Gamespot isn't getting much traffic for their DS stuff. If you don't want to be mocked for spending money on the damn thing, you have to avoid their site. Not that they should inflate scores on sub par games or anything, but they could be a little more open minded and a lot less offensive.
I don't even own a DS, but I've seen the coverage,
and also the review of jungle Beat was bollocks
PkunkFury said:
I agree with your entire post, but this is especially true. It's no wonder there's so much DS hate on GAF when literally every major review site is guilty of the behavior you're describing. The gaming media simply feels the PSP is better than the DS, which is sort of comprehendable, but that still doesn't really excuse the sort of anti-DS sentiment we see in sections of magazines or websites that are devoted Exclusively to the system. It's certainly gone a long way toward making me actively Distrust reviewers.
Yeah people always complaining how Nintendo not giving what we want and shoving down what they want down our throats should stop and think for a minute: It's more like the ones who are really shoving down what they want into our throats are the gaming journalists. They're the one who think they know what we want and what we should play. :\
Matt IGN CUBE for instance. He constantly brings up how Nintendo is stupid for not giving us a SSBM sequel for the Gamecube. He thinks he knows what everyone wants. Umm guess again. A lot of people want Nintendo to save the sequel for the Revolution launch actually and not releasing it every other years. People don't want them to release the same old sequel every year like EA, Koei, Capcom, etc. That's why Nintendo is so treasured like no others. You think a company who never gives what the fans want would have millions and millions of fans around the world?
As for Gamespot and all other journalists thinking of course everyone wants a PSP over a DS, think again. I, and a few friends who are PS2 fans are all not getting a PSP any time soon. We're interested, but still waiting for it to become cheaper. And we all have a DS since launch and are all satisfied about it. Think about that.
Matt IGN CUBE for instance. He constantly brings up how Nintendo is stupid for not giving us a SSBM sequel for the Gamecube. He thinks he knows what everyone wants. Umm guess again. A lot of people want Nintendo to save the sequel for the Revolution launch actually and not releasing it every other years. People don't want them to release the same old sequel every year like EA, Koei, Capcom, etc. That's why Nintendo is so treasured like no others. You think a company who never gives what the fans want would have millions and millions of fans around the world?
As for Gamespot and all other journalists thinking of course everyone wants a PSP over a DS, think again. I, and a few friends who are PS2 fans are all not getting a PSP any time soon. We're interested, but still waiting for it to become cheaper. And we all have a DS since launch and are all satisfied about it. Think about that.
This is the line from the press release. Now granted it is faulty in mentioning worldwide in the same sentence as US and Japan. But still, they're supposed to be fucking journalists, a bit of reading comprehension would not go amiss. Nope, GSpot is a biased piece of shit. Hey GSpot guys, why don't you run a story saying that the DS has shipped 6M to the 2.97M of the PSP? Or why don't you run a story saying how the DS has been outselling the psp weekly recently and this week outsold the PSP 3:1 extending the massive lead it already had? Oh what am I saying, before you go into that, get your team some reading lessons first.
PkunkFury
Member
Unison said:
Exactly. Hell I agree with them that the PSP is a better machine, and it deserves just about all the praise it's been receiving, but that's no reason to belittle a separate machine for taking an entirely different approach. There is room for both of these handhelds; I know I'll own both of them by Christmas, and I'm cheap. There should be room for both of them in the press as well.
What really gets me is the disparity between DS coverage here and DS coverage in Japan. I wasn't interested in the DS until I read about Meteos and Kirby, and now Nintendogs is also on my watch list. These three games were revered in Japanese magazines and the Japanese GAF population has gone crazy over the latter two. If Gamespot, IGN and the likes sweep these under the rug as well when they arrive stateside, I really wont know what to think.
PkunkFury
Member
Oogami said:
Matt's even worse. I stopped reading IGN Cube years ago. His insistance on how Nintendo should be run exceeds his demand for certain games, and takes the form of trashy ideas for characters and plotline within the games themsleves. The stuff he's insisted Nintendo HAS to do with Zelda is atrocious. I even read he got Tingle booted from the new Zelda game in another thread here. WTF? Thanks for saving us from a bit of humor, or does it hurt you when a company pokes fun at their fans now and then?
I love it when companies don't give me what I think I want, because when it turns out they were right, the surprise makes the game that much more fun. Never in my life would I have asked for a side scroller that controlled with Bongos, but I'll be damned if this isn't the most fun I've had with a game since Katamari. And speaking of, I would absolutely have rejected the idea of a game about an alien rolling up trash were it proposed to me, but oh gee, I was wrong and the game's awesome. I never wanted Zelda to be cel shaded, after playing Widnwaker, the new graphics hurt my eyes. Really, I see no benefit in telling game companies how to do their jobs.
radioheadrule83
Banned
kasavin said:
Greg,
I'm not entirely enthralled by the "we find PSP to have more potential" comments (I'm paraphrasing). But I'm glad you're listening to readers.
You're making a lot of sense here, glad to see you've been responding overnight. An 'Eye for an Eye' approach wouldn't work, you're probably right. If there's simply more PSP content that you have access to, that's cool. And you want video reviews to be played on actual PSPs, that's cool too. The only problem I have is one that others have mentioned. In what would be positive news for Nintendo DS, PSP is always mentioned as some kind of caveat -- and it does come off as anti-nintendo / damage control. I'm not saying it is, but I hope you can understand why people here have posted feeling that way. People know Sony and the PSP exist; any prospective DS owners likely considered this factor when buying a DS and did so anyway. If they wanted PSP coverage, they'd likely go to that area of your site. As for the article itself, it did seem like spin at first: Numbers were wrong (possibly not GS' fault! Sounds like Nintendo UK being rubbish as usual). In 3/4 months DS has amassed 5mil sales and has a 5 month jump on PSP in Europe. PSP is enjoying some success in Korea and other countries - perhaps you meant Asia when you talked of it's launch in Japan, or otherwise Europe won't be it's third region entry either. I hope you can forgive people for feeling it doesn't seem anything like hot on it's heels.
My only request is that you give DS a fair cop. Clearly lots of gamers are interested in it, those who do and do not own it, and feel it has damn near infinite potential.
Anyway, it's good to see you'll change things and are willing to accept feedback without getting too abusive / defensive. I may pick up a sub for your E3 coverage yet...
Baron Aloha
A Shining Example
M3wThr33 said:
You make it sound like they had no interest in the DS games and that they were only concerned with the GBA games and I seriously, SERIOUSLY doubt that. If someone only wanted to play GBA games they would have just bought a GBASP for half the price of a DS. People bought the DS to play DS games. What you are saying is akin to saying "people bought the PS2 as their first PSX player". I mean come on. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that backwards compatability helped spur sales but there is no way people are going to shell out $150 to buy a system when they can just get what they want out of an $80 system.
F
Folder
Unconfirmed Member
Incredible...
soundwave05
Member
GameSpot's new motto: Fair & Balanced
:lol
Matt got Tingle kicked out of the new Zelda? That's hillarious. It'd be like Harry Knowles getting Lucas to cut Jar-Jar. Now that's *power*.
:lol
Matt got Tingle kicked out of the new Zelda? That's hillarious. It'd be like Harry Knowles getting Lucas to cut Jar-Jar. Now that's *power*.
You guys are under the wrong impression that EGM, GameSpot, IGN, etc. are video game "journalists" when they are no such thing. Journalism and news organizations are about informing the people for their own good (which is why Fox News doesn't qualify either). The mentioned video game institutions are mainly about entertainment and riding on what's already popular.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that -- people have to make money. But just don't complain about them being "biased." They're entertainment companies and they go where the money is.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that -- people have to make money. But just don't complain about them being "biased." They're entertainment companies and they go where the money is.
Bluemercury
Member
EDGE is probably the only publication i consider being runned by game jornalists......