Despite the success, don't bet on more DS Lite models being released anytime soon. "There are now seven different DS colours available, so we have no plans to release more colours at this time," said a Nintendo spokesperson. The new download centers, however, will be rolling out in a "steady and consistent manner," so expect new demos on a regular basis.
"Safe and steady" was the theme of May's NPD figures, with no console either enjoying a majestic surge or suffering a crushing collapse -- the DS simply registered a decent if unspectacular 9% rise in hardware sales. As it turns out, that bump was timely, because it meant the console reached 20 million units sold in North America, a landmark that has now been passed in allmajorregions.
Of course, we could snicker at how the PSP only clinched 29% of the handheld market, and so we will.
For all of you in Taiwan who have relied on non-official distribution to satisfy your need for Nintendo, know that a new third-party distributor has made a deal with Nintendo to supply the region with video games from the Kyoto-based company. FarEasTone (FET) will be teaming up with Nintendo to provide the region with DS units and hopefully find as receptive a market as the handheld has in all other regions of the world it's available for sale.
Two specific models of DS Lite were mentioned, in the crimson black (or "senior") unit and a "New Super Mario DS Lite console." The handheld will be available from July 3rd on.
Looks like we'll have to start focusing on your region more, Europeans, as it's come to our attention you folks love yourselves some video games. This news comes courtesy of Nielsen Games, who found out that the Europe Union spent over a billion more (in U.S. dollars) on video games in 2007.
Another interesting statistic comes from the average age of a gamer in the UK: 33 years old. On top of that, 42 percent of UK game players have children. This ties into another nice statistic, which shows 81 percent of parents across Europe admitting that they often enjoy games with their children.
It would seem the landscape is changing across Europe, for the better. Gaming is looking to be viewed in more and more of a favorable light. Now, if only we could get some of that over here in the United States. Because, here, if you play games, you must be a child.
Ouch! Only the Wii escaped a big drop in hardware sales this month (thanks, we suspect, to Mario Kart), with DS numbers tumbling a hefty 40.6% (perhaps that Metallic Rose model is arriving in the nick of time?).
Fortunately for Nintendo, every other rival platform chose this month for a dramatic plummet -- we can't be the only ones surprised that Grand Theft Auto IV didn't give the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 a bigger end-of-month bump?
Analysts at DFC Intelligence are preparing to release their gaming industry forecasts soon, and they see Nintendo's domination in Europe as a good thing not just for the company, but for the industry overall. See, they think that over the next few years Nintendo will continue to dominate there, with the benefit coming from Nintendo's success showing their competitors the region is a strong marketplace and deserving of more focus.
But, with all of this attention being turned to Europe in the future, supposedly, can it be a bad thing for Nintendo in the end? Added attention means added competition, but we're not too sure that Nintendo needs to worry about anything. In the U.S. and Japan, two very strong markets, Nintendo is still kicking butt and selling its products like there is no tomorrow. So while Nintendo's success in the region might drive the competition to more aggressively pursue consumers there, the appeal of the DS and Wii are much too great, in our eyes. At least, for the time being.
Michael Pachter, the industry analyst we all know, thinks that Nintendo isn't giving themselves enough credit and that they stand to sell far more than they realize. Nintendo, who sees themselves selling 187 million units of software for the DS (up from 185.6 million units the previous year), as well as 98.6 million units of hardware (up from 70.6 million units last year), might be pushing more product than they think. Pachter says the company is "executing flawlessly," and we're hard-pressed to find any reason to disagree with him.
As for his thoughts on what Nintendo will sell, he sees the DS software sales rising past Nintendo's projections to 210 million units (wow). On the hardware side, he doesn't care to comment on an exact figure, so we'll just leave it at that.
Do you expect 210 million games to be sold on the DS this year? With some big titles around the corner, which do you see selling the best on the handheld?
When it comes to predictions and the gaming industry, they often involve the name Michael Pachter. Not today, though, as an analyst for Lazard Capital Markets has tossed his own hat into the virtual ring of predictions and sees the DS as having an amazing year, even better than the previous year. Colin Sebastian sees sales improving from 5.9 million total units in 2008 to a far more profitable 6.4 million.
We've never been ones to boast any kind of ability in predicting the future, so we would never dare make an estimation of our own. But, we will say that Nintendo knows what they're doing and amazinggameskeepreleasing on the platform, so that's something to consider when looking at the future.
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has once again whipped out his crystal ball and claimed that the DS (hand-in-hand with the Brawl-fuelled Wii) romped to victory in the U.S. during March.
Pachty estimates that the handheld shifted 700,000 units, more than double the number of PSPs sold, which he places at 300,000. An impressive margin to be sure, particularly after the DS coughed and wheezed its way to a narrow 21,000-unit sales victory in January.
Will Pachter's predictions be proven correct? We'll know very shortly, as soon as NPD coughs up our monthly data!
Perhaps we're just cynics, but we're not at all surprised that this list of the 100 top-selling games in the U.S. and Europe isn't filled with more good games. We understand that not everyone has the tastes of the DS Fanboy staff (as much as we try toramitdownyourthroat), but some of these are just crazy.
Of course, some easy picks like Pokemon Diamond & Pearl and Brain Age 2 populate the list, but where is the love for some other great DS games? Phantom Hourglass at the 23rd spot? For shame. 1.2 million copies of High School Musical: Makin' the Cut sold and Drawn to Life only selling 820,000 copies? For shame.
In all, it's an interesting list that you should take a look at.
if you ever keep an eye on sales data in the far-off lands of Not Japan, then perhaps you know that the world loves the DS. It's just a great handheld system, no further explanation necessary. In the UK, the portable gaming system is selling as if it were the year-end holidays in the country, causing a bit of a strain on Nintendo's supply of handhelds to the region.
"What we sold last week on DS is what previously would have been sold in November – so hopefully retail will understand that it is presenting stock challenges for us," explains Nintendo's marketing director Dawn Paine. Yet the problem of keeping product out there on shelves is a problem for Nintendo at the moment, they couldn't be happier with the continued success. "But three years down the road from launch, the fact that our hardware sales are increasing is very pleasing." The one place you're still not allowed to have one, however, is prison.
Any of our UK readers notice the shops lacking DSes on their shelves?
The new casual approach for Majesco is working wonders for the company, as the latest sales stats pouring in show the company's profits are up. In fact, the company saw a profit of $2.7 million during Q1, doing a total of $18.7 million in sales. The majority of their profit comes courtesy of the Mama herself, as the company reports 77% of their sales came from handheld titles.
Jesse Sutton, CEO of Majesco, commented that the company "benefited from a strong domestic sales performance, driven by sales of our Cooking Mama games, which delivered a revenue increase of 47 percent versus the same period last year." Sutton added that Majesco is "focused on expanding the number of titles we publish and strengthening our retail distribution."
Majesco also announced that Cooking Mama 8: Mama Bakes in Space is due for a summer 2027 release.
Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter has made a career out of predicting what's going down in the gaming industry. His latest prediction sees Nintendo upping their financial forecast for this year, where he thinks the company will bring in more than its current 2008 projections for $14.5 billion in revenue. We imagine that's around how much it costs to build a Death Star.
"Nintendo's recent financial performance has been spectacular and we continue to believe its FY:08 guidance is conservative," said Pachter. He continued on to say "We believe that global DS sales were likely around 12 million units during the [third] quarter, and that global Wii sales were around 7 million, placing the company on track to exceed guidance for the fiscal year,"
Sales data for the year have come in regarding the UK and Nintendo's brain-empowering software on the DS ranked pretty darn high on the list. Both Dr Kawashima's Brain Training and More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima were on the list, with the first title only being beaten by FIFA 08. You folks in the UK really love your soccer football, eh?
Over the past few months, we've all grown used to digesting statistics and factoids that sum up the DS's dominance in Japan. That's not to say we've grown tired of them, however, so here's another pretty sweet stat: over the holiday period, the DS whooshed effortlessly past the lifetime sales of Sony's PlayStation 2.
That's according to Japanese sales tracker Media Create, which got its abacus out to calculate that the DS has now shifted 20,954,157 units, compared to 20,901,468 PS2s. What's even more impressive is how quickly Nintendo's handheld has pulled off the feat -- let's not forget that Sony's console has been on the Japanese market for an extra four and a half years. A hearty "Congrats!" to you, Nintendo.
Following word that the UK would be receiving some new download stations, as well as some new DS Lite models, we now hear that this new switch is driving sales in the region. It's pretty much a winning combo.
39.1K (5.5%)
37.8K (9.1%)
For all of you in Taiwan who have relied on non-official distribution to satisfy your need for Nintendo, know that a new third-party distributor has made a deal with Nintendo to supply the region with video games from the Kyoto-based company. FarEasTone (FET) will be teaming up with Nintendo to provide the region with DS units and hopefully find as 
Ouch! Only the Wii escaped a big drop in hardware sales this month (thanks, we suspect, to Mario Kart), with DS numbers tumbling a hefty 40.6% (perhaps that 
Analysts at DFC Intelligence are preparing to release their gaming industry forecasts soon, and they see 
Michael Pachter, the industry analyst we all know, thinks that Nintendo isn't giving themselves enough credit and that 
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has once again whipped out his crystal ball and claimed that the DS (hand-in-hand with the 
The 
Sales data for the year have come in regarding the UK and Nintendo's brain-empowering software on the DS ranked pretty darn high on the list. Both Dr Kawashima's Brain Training and More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima were on the list, with the first title only being beaten by FIFA 08. You folks in the UK really love your 
