Well, this is a real shame. I'm sure that NPD has its reasons for making these changes-- which we can choose to believe or not believe-- but this format change all but kills any useful video game sales analysis (outside of quarterly and EOY results briefings).
For those of us who were armchair analysis hobbyists, this really stinks. I learned a lot of things over the last 8 years from visiting and participating in these threads. Having raw sales data enabled people to make reads of the industry at large. Without it, there's not much to discuss. The message is now controlled, and we're only allowed to know what the industry and NPD want us to know.
It was a great run, but all good things come to an end, I guess.