1up Misquotes Mario vs. Modern Warfare Sales Challenge, Alters Terms of Bet

Perhaps you’ve heard by now of the GameTrailers TV episode in which host Geoff Keighley asked Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime whether New Super Mario Bros. Wii would outsell Modern Warfare 2.  Fils-Aime responded by stating “On one particular platform – I do believe so,” and further added that he would be including NPD sales data up through January 2010.

However, if you read about the now-infamous bet over at 1up.com, you’d have gotten an entirely different story – one in which NOA’s president is depicted as himself issuing the sales challenge and specifically against the Xbox 360 version of Modern Warfare 2, not simply a single, unspecified platform.

On Friday the website posted an article entitled “NPD Fallout: Mario vs Modern Warfare.”  In the article, 1up opens by stating, “Far be it from us to stoke the flames of the console wars, but when a major industry figure throws down the gauntlet and issues a sales challenge, we can’t help but check on the data.”

Only, the major industry figure (Fils-Aime) never issued the challenge – he merely accepted it.  In the GameTrailers TV episode, host Keighley asks Fils-Aime: “So this is your big game for the holidays, you’ve got the biggest installed base, but is this thing going to outsell Modern Warfare 2?”

Fils-Aime first responds rather hesitantly by noting that Modern Warfare 2 is on two platforms, not simply one.  However, Keighley then presents a more pin-pointed challenge by asking “But on a single platform?”  Fils-Aime then changes tone and answers without hesitation, “Absolutely.  I say that unequivocally.”

From this point forward, however, things become a little more dubious.  Without linking directly to the GameTrailers TV episode, 1up claims in the NPD Fallout article that the bet entailed a deal that “New Super Mario Bros Wii would only be compared to the Xbox 360 version of the game, and it would be judged on NPD data through January.”

However, to support this assertion, 1up linked back to its own prior article on the subject (which did include a link the episode) from November 7 which paraphrased the GameTrailers TV episode by saying “Reggie also made a bold challenge to Infinity Ward” and that Reggie “issue[d] the caveat that they’ll only compare sales of Modern Warfare 2 on the 360 and not the 360, PS3, and PC combined for this unofficial challenge….”

It is this paraphrasing in particular that makes the NPD Fallout article a bit too untenable.  While it is clear that Fils-Aime did not issue the challenge – Keighley in fact did – it is questionable whether Fils-Aime was referring to no specific platform in particular (meaning either the PS3 or Xbox 360) or the Xbox 360 alone.

After Fils-Aime responded to the question of “But on a single platform,” by stating “Absolutely, I say that unequivocally,” Keighley then asked, “You’re going to sell more copies of New Super Mario Bros. Wii than Modern Warfare will on 360?”  Reggie responded by carefully limiting the bet, stating “On – on one particular platform?  I do believe so.”  However, Keighley quickly injected the comment “Just on 360,” while Fils-Aime was trying to state “I do believe so,” but the timing and context of that statement only seems to imply that Fils-Aime was saying “I do believe so” in response to his own self-imposed question of “on one particular platform?”  The two then moved on and never addressed the issue of which version of Modern Warfare 2 they were referring to, so it’s not clear at all that Fils-Aime was ever explicitly agreeing to bet sales of New Super Mario Bros. Wii against the Xbox 360 version of Modern Warfare 2 specifically.

Viewed as a whole, the GameTrailers TV episode gives the impression that Keighley wanted to place a bet involving the 360 version of Modern Warfare 2 alone, but that Fils-Aime would not entirely acquiesce and would instead agree only if he was given some wiggle room by including either the 360 version or the PS3 version.

But like many fast-talking exchanges, there may be room to infer two separate conclusions.  It’s just that, in this case, one inference seems much more likely than the other.  But we’re not here to tell our readers what the speakers really meant.  So take a look at the video (linked again right here for your convenience), and you be the judge.