For our delinquent readers NPD might mean something totally different than it does for the rest of us. Rather than referring to the New Orleans Police Department, NPD is short for The NPD Group, Inc.

From Wikipedia: Using actual sales data from retailers and distributors as well as consumer-reported purchasing behavior, NPD offers consumer panel and retail sales tracking services, special reports, modeling and analytics, and custom research.^[2] Covered industries include apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, consumer electronics, food and beverage, foodservice, footwear, home improvement, housewares, imaging, information technology, movies, music, software, toys, video games and wireless.^[2]

Though founded in 1967, NPD became a real gaming household name this year, cited in literally thousands of articles, and used to stir up fanboys on every site from Kotaku to Joystiq. Each week, when the NPD numbers for the various consoles are announced, geeks the world over begin flexing their muscles and strutting their stuff, as if they themselves were responsible in some way for (or benefitted in some way from) the latest sales numbers.

In the end, while NPD is certainly an important indicator of gaming trends, watching NPD numbers is about as fun as watching a game of pong. If you’re not in it, who really gives a flip?

For stirring up more gamers than Jack Thompson burning copies of Mass Effect, the NPD gets the number 54 spot on Sarcastic Gamer’s Top 100 Gaming Moments of 2007.

Click here for the rest of Sarcastic Gamer’s Top 100 Gaming Moments from 2007 all in one place!

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