Sale estimates of the DSi continue to climb, with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stating that the handheld has – in the space of two days – sold 600,000 units across Europe and the US.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Iwata claimed that the DSi had sold evenly across both regions; 300,000 units in the US, 300,000 in Europe, all during the handheld’s launch weekend.
Nintendo's video on demand service, planned to launch in Japan sometime this year, might not just be limited to the Wii. According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, it may also come to the Nintendo DS.
All things considered, we found the DSi to be an overall worthwhile update to the DS Lite. Although we do miss backwards compatibility via the GBA slot, it is a reasonable tradeoff for access to the DSi Shop and SD card support. Ultimately, it'll come down to how much each individual user values those features, but all-in-all we think the DSi is worthy of the $169.99 down.
Nintendo's DSi became the fourth fastest-selling console in UK history over its opening weekend, according to GfK-ChartTrack data. The handheld's performance even eclipsed the debut sales numbers of the original DS - only being outdone by the opening weekends of PSP, PS3 and Wii. In unit terms, it outsold all other consoles combined over the weekend.
Nintendo is fully behind producing three different types of DS cartridges.At the Game Developers Conference panel titled "Inspiration Behind Nintendo DSi Development," Nintendo's project lead Matato Kuwahara revealed that there will be a variety of ways to distribute Nintendo DSi software to users, both digitally distributed as well as via retail packaged software.
In Japan, consumers are rewarded with 1000 free Nintendo DSi points when they first connect their new DSi system to the online store. We've been crossing our fingers that North American gamers will receive the same reward when the portable is released here on April 5, and it looks like we're in luck.
DSi shows no sign of letting up in Japan. The latest sales milestone for the system is the two million mark, which Famitsu publisher Enterbrain announced today was reached over the week ending March 22.
The DSi now has a userbase of 2,024,431 units in Nintendo's home territory, where it launched in November of last year.
The more important comparison is DSi vs. DSL, not DSi vs DS (fat). The DS (fat) have lackluster sales performance in US (compared to PSP), while DSL are breaking sales record left and right.
We've picked up on the fact many of you aren't feelin' the DSi. But you know what? Lots of other people are, because according to GameStop, pre-orders for the handheld are off the charts.
According to GameStop senior vice president Bob McKenzie, DSi pre-orders are double the size of the original DS:
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