@vgerik1234: No one said it was PC and 360 only.

Narishma

@ryoshi: Because this is an article about fact-checking in which a fact is wrong?

I don't mean to pick on Owen or Brian either. I know it was a big day with a lot of stuff going on.

Silent Predator

@phantam: You can't steal in game XMB if you're the only one WITH XMB. Silly. Wouldn't work, you'd be sort of stealing from yourself. Trophies - yeah you're right there, and a bad idea both systems are.

But please don't you think MS saying "no one else can do THIS!!one etc" then showing what looks to be so close a character representation system to Miis they would require DNA analysis to tell them apart is just a bit rich?

Yes the "big 3" have copied each other, but at least Sony and Nintendo HAVE innovated. MS has always copied other people's ideas since its inception, and has done very well from it, to give credit. But it has never innovated, and doesn't know how to.

Aname

@XbhaskarX:
I agree, why they count a game that was sold with the console is beyond me.

Luuey

People will hear what they want to hear

Edge of Blade

@everybest: people seem to forget when microsoft says stuff like selling more than both combined their referring to GAME SALES AND PERIPHERALS which the 360 hands down is crushing both sony and nintendo combined month after month.

phantam

Claim 4:

No more of this "head start" crap. It doesn't matter. Each manufactuer made decisions that put release dates in one place or another. MS paid for jumping the gun with RRoD. Sony and Nintendo both had to battle an entrenched 360, but with more stable hardware. They each launched under different circumstances. Therefore, you can't compare 360 and anyone else. It's an apples and oranges thing. PS3 and Wii is almost a valid comparison, if other factors like console price, profit/loss margin are ignored.

Edge of Blade

Interesting piece. People can debate exactly how honest it would be to make some of these statements but I think all in all we should remember that this is MS's time to hype up and exaggerate.

EditorinChief

the every 5 seconds, is the CURRENT RATE KOTAKU!

jesus thats like saying the average rate of cellphone sales... and trying to count from the first cellphone ever released... give it a f*cking rest their talking about the current rate of xbox live adoption.

@Aname: im so sick of the Mii vs Avatar Bullcrap, and the Home vs 360 Avatars....

the ps3 stole ingame xmb and trophies, microsoft stole the mii/home ... why???? becuase its a fu*king ecosystem...

its like Micosoft not implementing windows and still using command lines for desktops because they didnt want to copy Apple/whoever... the industry moves forward one in front of the other in features... some microsoft is first at some sony are first and and some nintendo....

its not copying its just forward moving and evolving on features that work and that look promising.

phantam

I love how everyone gets all up in arms over wiiplay because it comes with a controller. That's just a good business model. And *gasp* some people actually play the game or want the game to play, getting the controller or game (depending on your side of the field) is just an added bonus.

FunKrusher

Claim 4: According to Don Mattrick, the Xbox 360 is "outselling the Wii and the PS3 combined."

Re-watch the presser. This is wrongly worded and misleading. What he was referring to here was to the total sales of 3rd party games, not the console itself. Makes sense seeing how 90% of Nintendo's "successful" games are first party, and Sony's had a slow start.

everybest

@Estel: Yes I'm glad someone else picked up on this. "Context is important" indeed Kotaku - as is tense. Otherwise we might as well say "THE SNES - OUTSELLING XBOX 360, MAY 2008"

Aname

Alright guys, we now have too accept that the big three will continue respond to eachother's new features, and to some people, this could be interpreted as "copying." I for one am fine with it, it just means they are giving the customer what they want. We'll all be OK.

The Magnificen7

r.e. claim 4: I would also have thought that "outselling" referred to the current rate at which the consoles were being sold, rather than the total number of lifetime sales.

Estel

The other thing was MS claims to innovation topped of by the the insane "could anyone else do this but us?" challenge whilst unveiling Avatars which could only look more like Miis if - no, scratch that, they couldn't be made to look any more like Miis. MS are so full of it if collectively had enemas they would be buried, collectively, in matchboxes.

Aname

Claim 4: According to Don Mattrick, the Xbox 360 is "outselling the Wii and the PS3 combined."
True, but...context is important. Mattrick is citing the fact that Xbox 360, as of May, had sold more than 10 million units, to Wii's 8.8 million and to PS3's 4.1 million.

Um, I just gots me a hi skool edumakashun but 8.8 million plus 4.1 million equals 12.9 million. Last time I checked, even in may, 12.9 million > 10 million. So while head-to-head it is a true statement, his claim of Combined" is false. You fail at failing...

rcgaryk

I remember looking at the chart that said that Xbox 360 sold 10.9 in America to Wii's 10.8 milli.
Then, I started to imagine Nintendo's presser, where they could have a big board counting down the seconds before Wii passed Xbox 360 in America, with Reggie leading the countdown like a Dick Clark on New Year's Rockin' Eve - without the stroke, of course!

Phoenicks

Someone needs to Fact-Check the Kotaku Fact-Checking.

RonCey

Who cares that Claim 4 is off, Kotaku still had awesome coverage of the presser. Kudos.

ryoshi

And any man who walks on stage unironically to sounds of a woman moaning orgasmically despite the fact he is a middle aged businessman with all the charisma and sexual appeal of a used condom should rightfully be mocked mercilessly until he gains some tiny spark of self-awareness. Anyone here heard of Alan Partridge?

Aname

For Claim #6, most of the accounts are "second accounts" made by people trying to cheat the Halo 3 ranking system.

Aye Mak Sicur

@XbhaskarX: If they got rid of the controller they would be selling the game for 10 bucks. Not sure how much difference that would make...

kend7510

Important facts:

XBOX Live is free for all its uses but online play.
- you can download demos/content
- rent movies/tv shows
- chat live
- send msgs
- interact with MSN
- ETC.

GOLD adds online play and some time exclusive demos for about 5$ a month (60$ a year).

There are many misconceptions about Live for people who have never tried it.

interstate78

"half a billion in potential sales."

Key word here is "potential". They're not speculating that it WILL happen, they're saying it's very possible (which it is). Whether they're exclusive or not doesn't change that.

justhesh

confused about how you're claiming number 4 as true. Even using the numbers u posted 8.8 plus 4.4 is well above the 10 million 360's sold

cheswick

"Claim 4: According to Don Mattrick, the Xbox 360 is "outselling the Wii and the PS3 combined."
True, but...context is important. Mattrick is citing the fact that Xbox 360, as of May, had sold more than 10 million units, to Wii's 8.8 million and to PS3's 4.1 million."

What? I thought the Wii was ahead worldwide? And not only that, since when is 10 > 8.8 + 4.1? Is this another one of those damn republican math problems that I just don't get because I listened in class?

justaj

Er yeah Claim 4 true? No, false is the word you are looking for. How is this true? If you ignore the word "combined"? Ignore the present tense "outselling"? Pretend that he qualified the statement by referring only to the US? And didn't comb- ah forget it the statement is an out and and lie, and can only be made anything near "true" if you said something else entirely. True my arse, shame on you Kotaku.

Aname

correction: claim 6

dadeisvenm

I thought the Xbox selling more than Wii and PS3 combined was referring to 3rd party software sales. If it were referring to hardware sale than the numbers you gave don't add up:

360: 10+ million
Wii: 8.8 million
PS3: 4.1 million
Wii + PS3: 12.9 million

12.9 > 10+

Silent Predator

Claim 5 is very fishy. That could mean PC users are signing up for a LIVE gamer tag or silver users or regular Xbox 1 LIVE activation. to many variables.

dadeisvenm

So is fallout 3 PC and 360 only? WTF!?!?! I THOUGHT IT WAS PS3!!!

vgerik1234

@XbhaskarX:Yes Wii Play is counted. It will ALWAYS be counted. Shut up about it already.

Foxstar Sixtail

Claim 4 was misinterpreted on Kotaku's part I believe. He said that the 360 has outsold the Wii and PS3 combined as far as third party titles are concerned. He said that while showing the bar graphs comparing the third party sales last year.

Or just after.

Heliophage

I thought Claim 4 was that the revenue for third party games on the 360 was more than the Wii and the PS3 combined. I could easily believe that.

Kohath

You forgot the part where they said the 360 was the best-selling console in America. While that may have been true based on last month's numbers, at this point in time we can safely say that the Wii is the best-selling console. Thursday's NPD numbers will prove it once and for all, of course.

I guess Microsoft just wanted to have that one last chance to say they were #1.

Huckleberry

Claim 4 seems to include the U.S. only, is that correct? I'm pretty sure the Wii is way ahead in worldwide sales.

zegota

"Wii Play (which shifted 4,120,000)"

You're seriously counting Wii Play? Microsoft should have bundled Geometry Wars with its controller, then it would have another top selling game.

XbhaskarX

"Microsoft is currently trying to copy both Sony and Nintendo, and upon release we will try and claim it was our idea."

True, probably...

yeah, I made that up

Sammo21

Claim 7 is probably the most important and that seems to be legit. The rest is mostly flamewar fodder.

KaneRobot

Well, at least they are making partially (in most cases) true statements and never undermined the Wii as a "niche gaming console" or whatever. Still, I wish there was ONE company that kept outright honesty and integrity. Guess they wouldn't be companies then, though, right?

My360broked

great work on the coverage, btw!

SupaPhly

Hm. So not all that dodgy.

Their accountants WILL be pleased!

GViper

@Konchu: But yeah, Trophies were a copy of Achievements, I don't want to get into to an arguement about which is better though, think both are a bad idea.

Aname

@Konchu: Maybe it invented charging for gamerpics, thinking about, yeah I'll give you that.

Aname

@Konchu: MS did not invent online gaming, come on now. Or pictures.

Aname

@Aname: Really MS hasn't innovated at all. Gee why is online markets like the Wii Store or PSN get there inspiration from. Even Mii's were a creative response to the gamer tag yes very different but they fill the same need to identify the gamer. And Home a response to Xbox live and Trophy's a response to Achievements. And even these things are responses to things that were on other platforms before.

Konchu

@Luuey:

Wii Play isn't bundled with the system, that's Wii Sports which is actually not bundled with the Japanese Wii...

rcgaryk

I think Kotaku is selling claim 1 a bit short. Even if some of the top ten titles sold are multiplatform one will have to factor in which platform did that title sell best on. Good example will be COD4. It sold a buttload of copies and I will bet 100 dollars to anyone that it sold a much larger amount on the 360 than it did on the PS3 and probably still doing it to this day.

So, while Halo 3 was the only exclusive title on that top 10 which MS can honestly say was a top ten seller for the system it shouldn't discount the fact that the multiplatform titles probably also sold better on the 360 than it did on the PS3 due to larger install base.

Tull

First off, as close as anyone pumping their product is likely to get is "Well, sorta". Not that it stands up to a test of honesty in an absolute sense, but in relative terms that is where the water mark can be expected to be.

Having said that, I think claim #1 is a little better than that. By my count (which may be off) 6 of top ten are on the 360, 4 on the PS3, and 5 on the Wii. And, as mentioned, one of the games comes with the Wii. Just to clear up the multi-platform issue.

dbushik

While MS didn't invent online gaming they did innovate enough of what works on console on-line gaming that bothg Sony and Nintendo have "borrowed" some base aspects of it for their online system.

In the end everyone copies or borrows from everybody else. I would say that of the three only Nintendo truly innovates new ideas for the console industry, but then their innovations have a tendency to be hit-or-miss and for the moment they seem to be on a hitting streak after being on a major slump for almost a decade starting the the N64 right on through the GameCube.

Tull

@creepwood: Yeah, but to most innovation equals success in terms of money. If it sells a lot then its a success people are willing to copy. Plus, I always saw the DC controllers as the one copied by Sony for their PS2 controllers. Didn't need a Rumble Pack for that one.

Tull

@Tull: I wouldn't call N64 all miss, I mean that's where analogue control and controller feedback/rumble first properly appeared on consoles. Those two changed gaming, they just didn't line Nintendo's pockets in the same way Wii has.

<3 N64

creepwood

Re: Claim 1 I don't see how something being "exclusive" matters much.

Looking at the linked article the #1, #3 and #9 were 360 titles, #2, #5 and #10 went to the Wii, #4, #7 and #8 went to the venerable PS2, the DS picked up #6.

In terms of cumulative numbers we have:
360 with 9,730,000
Wii with 8,460,000
PS2 with 6,510,000
DS with 2,480,000

I'd say MS's claims are pretty supportable even if you don't put an "*" next to Wii Play.

raitchison

@vgerik1234: I ahve it reserved at gamestop for ps3, so no exclusiveness.

ChimDeathmonkey

About the xbox live claim, you realize that theyre talking about TODAY and not 2002 right? Theres no way to fact check that. They didnt say theyve been having those kinds of sign ups since 2002.

CCCombobreaker

"Gaming has undoubtably become the most powerful medium. As proved by this Pricewaterhouse Cooper survey. It just goes to show, that games are the future."

... "Moving on, I'd like to announce our new partnership with.... NETFLIX! Yes that's right! Live members can now enjoy a wide selection of movies right from their very homes!"

MetaKz

@MetaKz: Hahaha. Glad someone else noted the irony.

freakout

@freakout: @MetaKz:

It's not irony, it's features baby... FEATURES!! :D

okenny :)

"is selling" /= "has sold"

The relevant metric for that "fact" is current sales rates, not lifetime sales.

cdammers

Claim 6 was taken out of context. I just watched a highlight reel on Xbox live which had Don Mattrick saying, paraphrased, "We had 6 million Xbox Live subscribers last year, this year we have over 12 million, today we have a new Xbox Live member every 5 seconds."

SirDanF

Claim 2: didn't they include Fable 2 in the list of games? With that one, it would be $125 million per game, at $60 a game that's roughly 2 million games sold each. Very likely that all of the above four games are going to sell as much. With just three games, the numbers aren't that much higher either.

Careful with the speculation comment, then. ;)

robur

I believe Claim #2 is misquoted.

"Fall Out 3, Resident Evil 5 and Gears of War 2. Together they represent half a billion in potential sales.
Speculation. Also, only Gears of War 2 is an Xbox 360 exclusive."

As far as I remember, he also had Fable 2 in there. So with around $60 per game, that's about 2 million for each of the four games. Not so speculative really - they're probably even selling more, thinking of the previous sales. Also, do remember world wide sales, too.

robur