They get these stats by the address(ya know what MS ban if caught pirating software?) of consoles connected to the internet in the last 6 months or something along those lines. If you never connect your console to the internet they consider it dead. Thats what the stat here is Global ACTIVE devices. Even if it does only include online devices there is probably an even number of offline as online devices out there.

This report (if true) shall make for an interesting Sony keynote address @ this years E3.

Darth72

Wouldn't a first place loser be last?

yeah they had a horrible headstart but at least it resulted in a quality machine i know so many people who have bought 3 plus xbox because of poor hardware and the rrod that's why i'll never be getting one their company model needs to change. I love my PS3 and i'm glad they have competition though.

Well there are lot of broken 360's out there and that is being conservative. Some broken PS3's and Wii's as well but nowhere near the epidemic that the 360 has encountered.

You can't be active if you are RROD, can you?

They get the data by paying for the data.

Once they have the data they'll do stats based on the data they have been given.

^Except none of this argument really matters because there's no way there are 43.4 million PS3's online. That's over 95% of the total PS3's sold. Factor in the number that have broken or go unused, and you have no margin for the tons of people who don't connect their PS3's to the internet.

I don't have any way of knowing how accurate these numbers are, but I can assure you they aren't counting the number of PS3's connected to the internet.

Edit: Whoops. Meant to reply down there V

LOL, these are the same guys that predicted the PS3 would sell 127 million units in its lifetime, versus 103 million for the Wii.

http://www.gamasutra.com/vi...

Take this with a grain of salt. Imagine if these same analysts were saying something in favor of the 360. They would immediately be bashed, this article would be placed under the rumor section, and would be voted as "Doubtful".

But if we do want to pretend this article is true, then the PS3 software sales must be worse than we could have ever imagined. You're telling me the PS3 has more active users than the 360 yet 360 multiplatform games almost always sell more - sometimes 2X more? Wow. That would be REALLY pathetic.

@Darth

The saying is actually
"Second place is just the first loser."

i think xbox360 numbers are inflated due to the fact alot of ppl purchased more than one xbox due to the issues it had (5 360s in my lifetime). So i do believe this is an accurate report

@ Yodacracker Why you think the PS3 has a bigger attach rate? it has exclusives and multiplats! Xbox only has multiplats! Its not so difficult to understand just think about it!

And they said this will never happen.

They also said BluRay will never win.
3D will never take on.
The PS3 will be doom.
Forza 3 wil beat GT5 in sales.
And pigs will fly.

@oohWii lol you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. First, yes they are counting the MAC addresses. How can they distinguish them between other devices? I'm glad you asked. The first half of a MAC address is known as the manufacturer ID which is unique for each company that produces them (Sony, microsoft, Intel, etc. All have one) the next few numbers identify the model and serial number so yes, they can tell. And they can even tell when it was manufactured as they have a database of all MAC addresses.

@illizit - Although you sound intelligent, you still don't quite have it figured out either while you're calling oohwii out, you totally missed his point. Especially after your quick visit to wiki or an IP dictionary.

Although the organizationally unique identifier (first 3 octets) will identify the organization that issued the identifier that could be either the manufacturer of the network card/device or in some cases the buyers (MS) administrator. They can issue them however they please as long as they are unique.

With that being said, MS could override the burning identifier and perform the id process locally, HOWEVER, they could have issued part of the same series of numbers to their Zune and other products as well. Being they are only required to make sure the devices are unique.

IMO, there is no way, these people were able to capture EVERY single MAC address of every active device and chart it with any consistent accuracy, chart the data, and without error determine the device type. Besides, what's to say MS even did localized identifiers, perhaps they left the burnin MACs in tact from linksys or whom ever made the network card/adapter.

What if I used and third party network adapter on my older 360, now what? What if I did network sharing with my laptop?

Besides, even if oohwii doesn't understand the full concept of MACs, his/her point was taken and valid, and his/her point about "GAD" being a joke is equally valid.

Funny thing is you saw a flaw in his/her MAC analysis and attacked, rather than adding something intelligent to an otherwise bullshit article. That truly mean ABSOLUTELY noting.

ARBitrator - it sounds like you read about MAC addresses in a textbook, added your own interpretation of it, and try to pass off that false information as fact.

I have purchased tens of thousands of MAC addresses for network hardware for numerous embedded systems, and I can tell you that you CANNOT arbitrary create MAC addresses of your own.

The buyer of the addresses are assigned a BLOCK, there is no such thing as an "ID process" that allows you to assign any number you want as that would conflict with others' assigned block. In other words, illizit was perfectly correct, and in you trying to call him out to show-off, not only were you completely wrong, all you've done is show off your lack of understanding.

This is a perfect example of how people who use and work with Microsoft products usually have no clue what they are talking about, but always try to pass their false technical understanding as fact.

You have a complete false notion of how MAC addresses work and you should NOT be trying to pass off your lack of knowledge as the truth. In other words, everything you have said is invalid.

@KageMonkey

+1 for not only sounding smart, but actually being smart(there's a difference).

@kagemonkey

+1 to you too. why waste time with that moron. look at what he commented on my replies further down. he dont even know what is he talking and just try to take his own points and think the world evolves around him. fanboy are stupid period

Wow, there is some serious nerd rage going on!

Nobody actually cares about GADS, MACS, BLOCKS or any of the other points you all capitalised... Instead they wake up and get on with their lives. I suggest you all start doing the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

@KageMonkey - Even though I don't believe that you (you personally) have bought tens of thousands of MAC addresses...blah blah blah.

I do agree with you in the fact they are bought in unique blocks. Once a company received their block of MACs, they can distribute them as they please i.e to an enbedded system, a sub contractor manufacturing a project for them or whatever. In a lot of cases the manufacturers MAC will remain like in network card an adapter manufacturing and then the item rebranded if necessary.

I'm an network administrator, so I work with MACs a lot, but not to the point of knowing if they can be they can be burned in or re-identified by a company that bought a block. I know that they can be spoofed.

It's also my understanding that when MAC information leaves your computer it has your computer's MAC address, but when it arrives at your router that MAC address is removed. When the information is sent by your router further upstream to your ISP's router, it contains the MAC address of your router. When it moves from the ISPs router to another router on the internet, it contains the MAC address of the ISPs router.

I could be wrong, but this is how I thought MACs work on a network they are used to determine where info is to be sent along with the internal IP.

One thing that arbitrator said that I felt was true was that it would be very difficult to track EAD's based on MACs with external NICs, and other ways of getting connected. I place where you said the other dude was completely right when infact he wasn't.

You didn't address that because you were too busy showing how intelligent you thought you were. An you didn't really address the basis behind the whole argument, It's funny how cocky a person can get when they think they know something isn't it.

You spent more time addressing where he stepped into you field of work, called him out for his wrong and completely ignored the thing he said that were right.

Perhaps that was your INNER FANBOY.

Either way, this article is pointless an the flamebait component in it worked as it was planned.

There's many ways to figure this stuff out..

You can pay for the stats from sony, microsoft etc to get sales details etc.

Not only that but they can track via MAC addresses im sure(for checking how active the console is, if they've connected to the internet with it) once you connect your MAC is put into a database where it can be monitored and such therefor they can(sony or microsoft) see how many are active(when talking about internet use anyway)

@NiKK_419

Piracy on the PS3 started in the last year or so, the 360 has been hacked for almost 5 years

if you buy a modded/flashed 360 you can never connect it to the internet, so in 5 years, that's plenty of consoles that don't count for any calculation

So who has the super-awesome technology that watches for every single new device that connects to the whole Internet and catalogs it by type for reporting purposes? Can they tell how often it connects and from where?

I want to know so that I can invest in the company that can simplify such a complicated problem. That data has to be a goldmine.

@moparful99,

I don't fail to realize anything. Of couse MS's response was motivated by legalities. I don't care what their motivations were, I just care that they fix it.

I'm not naive enough to believe that multi-national corporations like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo don't have their reasons for doing what they do outside of making a dollar. Sure they have talented people, all of them, doing what they love to do. But at the end of the day, it's about making money. And I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm paying you for a service. I expect certain things for my money. If you mess up on your end of the agreement, you pay.

Edited: irrelevant point

@mendicant - Great point, but don't expect a sensible response. I have NEVER see a PS3 user on this site agree to something if it either made MS look good or made Sony look bad.

They just won't do it.

Good point LWB, I can honest say that I think that the current generation of the Sony fanboy, is probably the worst ever.

I'm sure lots of people outside of N4G would agree; both amateur and professional; gamer and media.

@mendicant

you are wrong. yes microsoft does repair or replace the 360 with an international biatch. but i do have friends who had few 360s and thru this generation he is already on his 4th 360. mind you they aint replacement. he buy new one. currently he have 2 360. while another 2 he sold them off. so yes there are repeated purchase of the same console for 360 case. i find 360 fanboy really funny after readhing this article. they shoot at PS2 calling them invalid bacause they aint GAD = not sold. But they themselve never never admit that due to RROD from a same owner can own more than 2 - 3 360 in the same generation which makes M$'s number invalid as a whole. oh before you start calling me ps3 fanboy mind you i have both. i dont particular side any of them. i just play my game

@kopicha - Don't be a moron, if you have a 360 that RROD on you within the 3 year warranty period it is repaired or placed FOR FREE by microsoft. If your friends went out and bought new ones, then perhaps you should have helped them out and told them to get it repaired by MS. Wait, I forgot, you didn't know that.

@ARBitrator

you are then the moron. ppl do what they like. he prefer to buy one and just send in the rrod for repair to continue his game as he need to wait for a week before getting back the international biatch. and oh in case you dont know m$ dont repair your freaking machines. they basically replace you with another refurb set you moron. its his choice to rather own a new one than getting back the refurb. i dont have to teach him what to do and thats what he wants to do. before you claim i dunno check if i own a 360 or not first stupid moron fanboy.

to the 2 that disagree me... you make yourself look stupid for trying to disagree with me with something that already happened! thats really pathetic