PlayStation 3 Closing Monthly Sales Gap on Wii

K guys the headline there is super misleading, if Sony was closing the sales gap then surely they would be selling more than nintendo? sure it goes on to explain that in the main text but some people don't read that.

May I suggest a change to "Playstation 3 closing MONTHLY sales gap on Wii"

Maybe a bit pedantic I know but i've seen this story with the same headline on other sites and it really doesn't seem right.

What part doesn't seem right?

If Sony had closed the sales gap, they would be selling the same.

If the sales gap had widened, they'd be selling comparitively less.

So if they're closing the sales gap, it literally means they're reducing the difference between their competitors sales with their own.

Which is what Spong's reporting as having happened, right?

The way I see it is that it all depends on the context, which has been completely left out of the title, with the title as it is it would be simple for someone passing through the website without reading the full story to assume that sony is now selling more than nintendo per month and therefore "closing the sales gap" to the total wii sales figures. If you consider that merely adding the word "monthly" to the title completely nixes any possibility of this then I think it's worthwhile and surely slightly more responsible. Just my opinion tho.

cheers

ha, i know peopel have been bring up sponds misleading titles as of late, but there is sooo nothing wrong with this one.

CLOSING, means just that, closING, if it said, sony have CLOSED the gap, then that means that they are selling equally... from the title, i didnt even need to read the story, i knew exactly what it meant. even the monthly part, as thats what is always spoken about.

Thanks for the vote, but it IS ambiguous. It was not intended to be, it really depends on the mindset of the reader - and how they perceive the title.

If you think about it in the present tense - it's fine.
PS3 is closing the difference on a monthly basis, so the sales gap is closing.

But if you think about it in the past tense - then it's plainly wrong.
PS3 is still being outsold by Wii, so the difference in SOLD units is still growing.

It's like that picture where you see a candlestick, or two faces.

As a reader, you'll just assume it means one thing or the other... so it is ambiguous,a nd that is not our aim. Clearly our writer thought of it one way, and some of our readers consider it the other way.

I see both sides here... yes they have closed the sales gap of monthly sales but due to the wii selling more units the overall sales gap actually widened! Lesson here, just read the acticles.

Yes, you got the story from the title, I also got the story from the title but the point i'm making is that not everybody is a) quite so au fait with the way these stories are composed and b) dilligent enough to follow it up by reading the whole story. The site should surely accomodate all-comers and I think the title is vague enough for some people to get the wrong impression about the CONTEXT of the story as I stated in my previous post. Yes you got the CONTEXT of the story correct, not everyone will get the CONTEXT correct just by reading the title.

Can you see what i'm getting at here, surely you can see that my point has some validity?

thanks for ur input anyway tho.

cheers for the reply DoctorDee, apologies for maybe being a bit picky about the whole thing but i've seen the same headline on tons of other websites and it only takes one dim-witted journalist to pick up on this, not do their research and suddenly you have the "PS3 pwning Wii" type headlines in the non specialist press.

the postings were all in the aid of journalistic accuracy, nothing more.

I have to agree with tweak. The term "sales gap" traditionally refers to the total number of units sold. For example a title of "Wii closes the sales gap on the 360" would be accurate and not at all ambiguous. The fact of the matter is the sales gap is still widening between Wii and PS3, as Wii is still outselling the PS3, quite handedly in Japan.

This isn't the only misleading part however. The title makes absolutely no mention of the fact that this is in Japan only. That seems even more misleading to me, as worldwide the PS3 has been holding pretty steady at 17% market share for several months, and as of late, worldwide Wii sales are increasing, while PS3 sales have been holding steady or declining slightly.

As someone who stays informed, I knew the news report couldn't possibly mean the PS3 was outselling the Wii, but that was certainly the first impression I got.

While many will be in the same boat as I am and know immediately the content of the news post, many won't.

I would think that any news organization that wants to be taken seriously would want to be free of any trace of ambiguity or text that looks misleading.

In my opinion, a qualifier of "monthly" is needed, and also an indication that this is for Japan only. The title reeks of amateurism to me, if not outright bias and blatant flame bait.

SPOnG, your headlines are getting more and more, misleading!!

credit where it's due, spong reacted quickly and responsibly and thats why i'll keep coming back, it's nice to know they listen and give a crap about what they're printing.

I doff my cap to u spong :)

SPOnG expects to see the gap close even more from November thru January, the busiest sales months for software, when the soon-to-be-released 40GB PlayStation 3 models in Japan become available in black and a rather fetching ceramic (iPod) white.

Ozfunghi expects SPOnG couldn't be more wrong, as they clearly are forgetting the release of a little something called WiiFit in Japan.

"Xbox outsells PS3 in Japan" - Reg Hardware

Right then, o pickers of misleading headline nits ... have at them and give the revered Reg as much stick as SPOnG gets!

passing the buck eh! lol :)

As Lead Picker, I have to give this one a pass. Its says what it means and it means what it says. Any interpretation problems are just that.

Unlike the Major Nelson "piece" which was a misleading title, coupled with what was either an extremely poorly written (in that Major Nelson was quoted in such a manner that his meaning was obfuscated, indeed his meaning was misrepresented) or, well, the alternative is unthinkable. I'm still waiting for a correction, retraction, or apology there. YES, I do think its warranted.

In both cases, what the hoi polloi might think is completely irrelevant. The fact that a SPOnG staffer, unintentional or not, published what amounts to a bald-faced lie is both relevant and disturbing.

Closing the sales gap clearly means its thats its catching up on perhaps weekly or monthly sale figures.

However yes it doesnt mention which country, however the competition is clearly between the 360 and the Wii.

Although the Wii is not much of a competition as its not a serious console in which I mean in terms of its hardware.