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DS still selling up a storm

September 13th, 2008

Nintendo has now sold more than 1.3 million DS handhelds in Australia with players of all ages drawn to its touch screen and games such as Brain Training, Pokemon and Nintendogs.

Other popular DS games include The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, New Super Mario Bros, Animal Crossing and Mario Kart.

According to Nintendo DS News, last month Nintendo sold an astonishing 49,000 DS consoles in a single week – a new record for any console in Australia.

Australian weekly sales for its main competitor – Sony’s PSP (PlayStation Portable) – are about 3000 units.

With PSP’s stunning widescreen display and flexible multimedia capabilities, Sony’s handheld was the console many pundits expected to revolutionise the portable gaming market, which had been dominated for more than a decade by Nintendo’s Game Boy.

But while Sony is pleased with global PSP sales (35 million in three years), the DS install base is growing at an extraordinary rate, and Nintendo expects total DS worldwide sales will soon top 100million.

Nintendo has been able to shatter the stigma that handheld consoles are only for children, largely thanks to the Brain Training series, which feature puzzles and tests designed to keep ageing minds stimulated.

Brain Training has become the cornerstone of the "Touch Generations" range, which is designed to appeal to a broader audience beyond traditional gamers. It includes titles such as Sight Training, Maths Training and Cooking Guide, an electronic recipe book that provides step-by-step instructions for cooking more than 250 dishes.

At the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo revealed DS sales to females have grown from 30 per cent of the market in 2005 to 48 per cent last year, highlighting the portable plaything’s wide appeal.

Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway says DS is becoming "a natural companion for everyone" and Nintendo is working on new applications such as arrival information for tourists at airports beamed to your console via wireless internet connections. Already Seattle Mariners fans in the US can use their DS to order food and check baseball scores.

Nintendo DS will soon host a new Grand Theft Auto game called Chinatown Wars. Another DS game in development is Spore Creatures, which focuses on the player creativity and sharing aspects of Will Wright’s highly anticipated evolution simulator.

Entry Filed under: Technology