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DS Sells 20 million, 17 Million More by March 2007
Wowzer writes "Nintendo announced today that sales of its hand-held, dual-screened video game player, the Nintendo DS, have topped 20 million worldwide (guesstimates say 21,270,000). Nintendo expects DS (Lite) sales to be 17 million between April 2006 and March 2007. From today's financial report: 'The company raised its full-year sales forecast of the DS handheld game players to 17 million units for the year ending March 2007, up from 16 million unit sales projection made in May. Sales of DS game titles are projected to rise to 75 million units, from 70 million.' The report refers to PSP owners as just combat-game fans, while the DS is said to target a wider audience with more diverse games such as the 6 million seller Nintendogs." I will say, I was very skeptical when I first heard about the DS and the split screen — but having played a number of different games, I've found I like it. But I have not played Nintendogs, unlike some other people I know.
And she was the kind of person who never let us have a console game after the Apple II+ showed up (we had an Atari 2600 before that). Every $PRESENT_GETTING_TIME, we'd ask for a playstation, or nintendo, or something, but we were always told "No, you have a computer, it plays games, no consoles". So we went without. My wife bought me a PSX back in '96, but I haven't upgraded since.
Then a few weeks ago I got a DS Lite and my mom visited for a few days. She started playing Brain Age and that was it. When they left, my dad asked how much they were and where they could be purchased. A week later, she's busy playing Sudoku and Mario on her own DS Lite.
If you want to get one and your spouse gives you a wary eye, go get it and get Brain Age at the same time. You'll be a hero. But you may wind up arguing who gets to play with it.
We own two. One for the son (blue), one for the doughter (pink).
My wife and I like the brain training games so two units are used by four people.
I'm sure my mum (79 years of age) will like the brain training games too so I bought a DS lite (white) with two games for her which I will give to her next Saturday.
What makes a god-fearing, law-abiding family father buy expensive electronic toys? High amounts if good (and mostly clean) fun!!!
I' still think I'm not a Nintendo fanboy but I sure like the stuff they make!
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
If your looking for homebrew development the psp or gamepark is probably the way to go. As a former (well current but its collecting dust) PSP owner, I came to appreciate the DS because it didnt play movies, music and run linux....it just played games and played them well.
but what are the latest worldwide shipped figures for the PSP?
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Nintendo, just like Apple, understands something that others still don't: it's not all about hardware and raw power anymore. Who cares if the Wii is less powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3? Who cares if the Nintendo DS is less powerful than the PSP? In the end, it's all about innovation and software.
The iPod would be almost useless without iTunes (the program, not the iTMS - iTunes Music Store), and the Nintendo DS would be pointless if all it could play was the same games as on the SNES/N64/Gamecube.
More processing power? Sure. Better graphics? Of course. But not at the expense of innovation and good software.
I don't remember who said it, but it goes something like this: "The most powerful computer on the planet would be useless without software to run on it."
Almost two years ago if someone pointed to this dual screened mutant and said,
-It would lead a gaming renaissance in Japan, making the Japanese game market larger than America so far in the year 2006.
-It would outsell the PSP in all markets.
-It would be very popular among girls too.
-And popular among older people with a game called 'Brain Age'. This demographic the industry thought was impossible to reach.
-Animal Crossing Wild World would outsell Final Fantasy 12 in Japan (could Final Fantasy 3 outsell FF12?)
-A game called Nintendogs will outsell Halo and is set to outsell Halo 2.
-Companies like Electronic Arts will struggle on the system as they do not know how to deal with disruption technology. But smaller companies like Atlus shall rise.
-Let's not forget a new 2D Mario (after fifteen years) turning the markets on fire everywhere.
You would think the person had gone mad. And many people thought Nintendo had gone mad in late 2004 (just as many thought they had gone mad with the Wii)
Where is the PSP? Well, the software for the PSP is abysmal in Japan. The DS sales lead over the PSP in Japan is so gigantic that if you begin to combine PSP markets, the PSP still doesn't outsell the DS.
So what is different? Nintendo sees the DS's true competition of those who aren't interested in games at all. The company mission is taking affect: "Make as many gamers as possible."
Two years ago...
-Japan had been in a slow decline and analysts were wondering if it worth the effort to 'win' Japan anymore.
-Everyone predicted the PSP would do to the DS what Playstation did to the Nintendo consoles.
-America's game market was extremely healthy with blockbusters like GTA: SA and Halo 2.
-Nintendo was about to go third party.
Now...
-Japan's game market is now bigger than America's and is rapidly expanding.
-Everyone's lofty PSP predictions now have egg on their face.
-America's game market has been in free-fall since 2004. People are ignoring this issue and calling it a 'transition period' without mentioning that the next-gen systems out such as the PSP and Xbox 360 are not growing the market in any way.
-Nintendo swims in profits.
Anyone who believes the seventh generation of consoles will match the PS2 era is deluding themselves. Let the Seventh Generation of Consoles be known as the Fragmentation Era as the games market is dividing into seperate realms.
Welcome to the new world.
You know, even earlier this year, I felt that Nintendo was struggling, and I'm a big nintendo fan. Always have been. It pained me to no end to think of one of my favorite gaming companies being toppled by the evil empire of Sony.
But at any rate, what can I say? I picked up a DS in January or February, and ever since then it's had so much momentum build up it's insane. Before now, though, what I'd seen from Nintendo was the regurgitation of the same old and tired, though beloved, franchises - yip-de-fucking-doo, another Gamecube Mario game, another Metroid, another Zelda. Sure, each one used newer graphics and admittedly had often fascinating new gameplay elements. But a handful of in-house titles a year do not make for success.
And the GBA? Christ. It'd already become a no-man's-land of awful movie and children's cartoon franchises. Speak to me no more of Nickelodeon games, nor Barbie (see subscript).
But the DS really seems to have sparked something for the general public. I think it's something that we've been waiting for, and Nintendo has brought it. I think it may be the true meaning of that damnable word, "innovation". It's coming from all -over- Nintendo, now. It seems more... Unrestrained. It's not "innovating" within a closed franchise (now Link can smash pots 200% better than any previous Zelda!), and it's not a fancy hardware platform that can perform miracles spitting out the latest boring edgy-teen-angst game(yes, Sony, that means you).
What Nintendo has done is offered a complete package. We have an entirely new hardware package, the DS. It has an entirely new control interface, the touchscreen, combined with the familiar D-pad and shoulder buttons that, if you don't know them already, are pretty intuitive to learn - a fusion of new and old. The hardware isn't obnoxiously overpowered for what's intended on the system, either. And the touchscreen itself encourages an entirely new kind of thinking for the software developers, bringing us new methods of interaction with our games, in some cases making us feel more a part of the worlds that they're trying to create, or at least greatly simplifying our interactions in them.
The end result is this fascinating device that provides an entirely new face to the thing that we love to do: play games. It's refreshing and it's welcoming, and it's Nintendo that's done it. Will we continue to see the same old franchises resurrected? I'm sure we will. Will we continue to see more fun and interesting software titles that have nothing to do with Mario? I'm certain we will. It's a win-win proposition for nostalgia gamers and those of us who crave something new.
I do still maintain my position, though, that Nintendo has created the perfect hardware platform for lightweight portable computing, and may be shooting themselves in the foot by not offering non-game solutions (though the browser is a step in the right direction, as is the TV tuner, though only for use in Japan). A GPS unit for one of these? VOIP phone cart? how about a data sampler and recorder? There are quite a few options available (though I'm glad they didn't do something dumb like integrate an MP3 player. That would've raised the price by far too much and felt too much like a cheap gimmick). Let's see some action on this thing, huh?
Will Nintendo falter in the future? It's felt shaky before, but as we can see, bounced back in a pretty big way. I hope they can keep on top of it, restore market dominance, and then, do the unthinkable in that position - keep on producing innovative games and hardware that are fun to play.
(subscript: Let me just say, by the by, that Barbie Horse Adventures is a message to little both gamers, and little girls. It says "Here at Mattel, we'd just like to mention that WE HATE YOU. Yes, we hate gamers, and we hate little girls, too. Parents, lock the doors, cause we're gonna come rape your children! We're SO fucking rich! Buy some more Barbie shit!")
(sub-subscript: ever notice how those in