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Speculative Kinect sales figures announced, looks to have handily trumped PlayStation Move
We'll get this out of the way right up front: VGChartz won't say where it gets its sales figures and, because of that, they're not to be taken as gospel or treated with much validity on their own. But, comparing one set of the site's numbers to another can be useful in showing trends, and with that caveat firmly in mind let's take a look at Microsoft's Kinect vs. Sony's PlayStation Move. According to the site, Kinect Adventures (bundled in with the camera itself) sold just under 480,000 units in one week after launching on November 4th, while the PlayStation Move sold 200,000 "units" in its first week, which according to VGChartz is not individual pieces of hardware but bundles of hardware tied to a single console. (This contrasts to Sony's figure, which counts each piece of hardware -- nunchuck, wand, and camera -- separately.) So, by these rather early and decidedly unofficial numbers it looks like Microsoft's Kinect investment might just be paying off, though of course it's the long-run that counts in these things.
Wii Sports is best-selling game of all time, according to VGChartz
We're automatically skeptical of any reports coming out of an organization who uses the letter "Z" to pluralize, but we find it difficult not to believe in a recent finding from VGChartz (sigh), who claim that Wii Sports has surpassed Super Mario Bros. as the best-selling video game of all time. After compiling last week's software sales, they've concluded that Wii Sports has barely crept past the 40.24 million mark that kept SMB on top of the pile for a bajillion years.Of course, its worth noting that both games were bundled with their respective platforms (except in Japan and South Korea, whose Wiis were Sports-less), greatly boosting their sales. We wouldn't be surprised if the report proves to be accurate -- nor would we be shocked if Nintendo is currently looking for the highest, broadest rooftop from which they can proclaim their latest sales triumph.
Rumor: The five-hour Xbox 360 relaunch Sept. 25
VGChartz is running a megaton rumor about the launch of the new Xbox 360 dashboard. It has our curiosity piqued because of its creativity and sheer audacity. The story goes that Microsoft will have a five-hour televised countdown beginning September 25 at 7PM Eastern leading to the New Xbox Experience and the software-based relaunch of the console at midnight.Allegedly, G4 will cover the event exclusively and Live members will be able to stream it. The rumor gets even bigger by saying that three new components of the NXE will be unveiled when the update happens at midnight. First is a partnership with Sirius Radio, allowing users to access the satellite radio station for a "modest monthly fee." Then there's the music store page -- think iTunes, except on your Xbox. Finally, there's the "mad lib" page, though nobody seems to know what the _______ it is.Sending this whole thing into overdrive, the source claims Microsoft will announce 12 new titles "exclusive or first" on the 360, including Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, a new Conker game and two new Halo titles. Also, six free original Xbox games will be available to download, with Halo being one of them.The whole thing sounds like madness (and fanboy conjecture), but given the Xbox 360's slipping sales, a mega-event relaunch might just be the reset button the company needs for the console best-known to general consumers for the RRoD. The whole rumor isn't even that insane when we recall how Microsoft went all-out for the first Xbox 360 launch and, if Microsoft execs are to be believed, this is "an entirely new Xbox" made possible by "the magic of software."[Via X3F]%Gallery-27601%
Total Wii sales surpass the Xbox 360 worldwide?
The idea of Wii sales passing up the Xbox 360 has seemed almost inevitable in the past months, as its motion-sensing gameplay and lovable pricetag have found plenty of fans in the Americas, Europe and especially in the Wii's native Japan. So far no official numbers have hit that have the Wii past its Microsoft rival, but Vgchartz.com's own homebrew numbers, gleaned from retailers worldwide, project the Wii is slightly ahead at 10.57 million consoles sold, compared to the 360's 10.51 million. These numbers are meant to project consoles sold, not consoles shipped, which gives the sold out Wii a slight edge. There's no telling when we'll get official numbers to know all this for sure, and the 360 still has a comfortable lead over the Wii in both Europe and the States, but it's looking like we'll have a new market leader in town soon enough.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Codemasters says DiRT sold 500,000 in one week
Behold the power of mud! Rally racer DiRT has sold globally 500,000 copies in its first week of release, according to Codemasters. The publisher cites statistics from web site VG Chartz that the Colin McRae-less US version was number one on the Xbox 360 charts, a move that is sure to get the NPD a little hot and bothered.Speaking with Joystiq, VG Chartz president Brett Walton said that the 500,000 shipment figure "is likely to be a shipment figure" (i.e. Codemasters has sold 500,000 to the retailers, not necessarily to the consumer). Walton said that the sales were 110,000 in the US (70,000 for Xbox 360 and 40,000 on the PC) and around 150,000 total in Europe.
