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With 7 DS titles set to go or having gone platinum (having sold over 1 million copies) in Japan, I seriously doubt that flash carts are the reason for high DS console sales. See http://game-science.com/news/001285.php

7. Be sure and mention Japanese and European sales numbers. If you aren't sure what those sales numbers are, go ahead and make something up. Estimate low, most people will believe you.

According to this http://game-science.com/news/001076.html/ article, the XBOX sold a whopping 169 units in Japan last week, and 6,529 for the whole year. At the other end of the spectrum, the Nintendo DS sold 67,863 units last week. Clearly the XBOX is not doing very well in Japan.

*** Disclaimer - I own a xb0KZzzz ;)

Like you point out, selling a console at a loss is by no means an absolute rule. But this new counter-myth that it was only three consoles is nonsense.

For example: add to that the Gamecube and Playstation 2. Nintendo themselves revealed (at Spaceworld 2001 - not the best link, but I am sick of wasting my time digging up great links for all you liars with no links that don't know what you are talking about) that the Gamecube was sold at an initial loss and is back to selling at a loss since it became $99. Sony had to expensively airlift consoles to make the US PS2 launch.

Other consoles have been sold at a loss, too. But the real point is that the standard used to determine if a console is sold at a loss right now is silly and inconsequential. No console makes back its R&D, advertising, and initial manufacturing setup costs in its early selling period. Materials + Manufacturing Labor = Retail cost is an indicator of nothing of real value in these discussions. All consoles are sold on the basis of achieving long-term profit, not a short-term breaking-even.

What are you smoking now? Do you not keep up with current events, as an "industry insider?"

Microsoft has been derided for releasing untranslated games in Japan in exactly the same fashion you talk about. Read about it again, or perhaps for the first time. It smacks of defeatism, laziness, and pathos (as in, "the situation looks pathetic, Mr. Bach, here's a tissue").

According to GameScience (quoting Nintendo of Japan's press release), the two processors will be one ARM7 and one ARM9. Which from what I've heard is rougly equivalent to a GBA and a Tapwave.