Reuters, Jan 22 2008: Leading economists are warning that the only chance the United States will avoid slipping into recession is if it successfully transitions to an entirely Nintendo DS-based economy, a process begun in secret by the Treasury during Q4 2007.
And so another holiday season is all over, but the cryin'. Once again, given the lack of anything else going on in my life, I turn to the monthly sales data released for the month of December, courtesy of the NPD group.
Hardware Sales (Annual 2007 in brackets)
Nintendo DS 2.47 million (8.50 million)
Wii 1.35 million (6.29 million)
Xbox 360 1.26 million (4.62 million)
PlayStation 2 1.1 million (3.97 million)
PlayStation Portable 1.06 million (3.82 million)
PlayStation 3 797.6K (2.56 million)
Top 10 Software Sales
360 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 1.47 million
Wii Super Mario Galaxy 1.40 million
PS2 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock 1.25 million
Wii Wii Play (w. Remote) 1.08 million
360 Assassin's Creed 894K
360 Halo 3 743K
NDS Brain Age 2 660K
PS2 Madden NFL 08 655K
360 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock 625K
Wii Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games 613K
Percentage gain over November sales:
Wii: 37%
Xbox 360: 64%
PS3: 71%
PS2: 122%
DS: 61%
PSP: 87%
The first thing that jumps out is the astounding performance of the Nintendo DS, which, statistics suggest, are so prevalent in America right now, you may be accidentally sitting on one as you read this. Aside from the DS, all the other platforms sold fairly predictably. Everyone's sales were up substantially, aside from the Wii, whose sales were likely constrained by supply problems, which you may have heard about everywhere else on the Internet. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for every Wii sold, stores were receiving dozens of phone calls inquiring after one, so some