Nintendo of Europe announced that the Nintendo DS has now crossed the 10 million unit threshold.  Since its launch in 2005 throughout Europe, the Nintendo DS has outsold competing handhelds to take the lead as the gamers choice for portable gaming. 

The DS, known to be stylish, sleek and extremely innovative in design, is exceeding Nintendo’s expectations, in a good way. The DS is set to follow in the footsteps of previous Nintendo handhelds. The original Game Boy, which was released in 1985, sold 70 million units, Game Boy color sold 50 million units and as of 2006, the Game Boy Advanced has sold over 76 million units.  By those numbers, the DS, with an estimated 35+ million total units sold world-wide, will most assuredly surpass its predecessors.

However, not all the DS success can go to the device itself. The DS boosts a plethora of well-designed original games. This includes games like "Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training" which has sold millions of copies in Europe alone. Nintendo has also chosen to push new game development, not satisfied with merely recycling old gaming titles. The list of new games expected this year includes some the following: Star Fox Command (due 26 January), Actionloop (due 26 January), Magical Starsign (due 9 February), Mario Slam Basketball (due 16 February), Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin by Konami (sometime in February), Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (due 9 March), and the highly anticipated legendary Final Fantasy III from Square-Enix (due sometime April-June?).

Of course, the European Marketing Director, Laurent Ascher is quoted as saying:

“Nintendo DS topped the six million mark in September and has continued to go from strength to strength with thousands of new people being introduced to gaming through the Nintendo DS. Its appeal to both gamers and non-gamers means it has expanded the gaming population significantly. This landmark figure of 10 million Nintendo DS gamers cements the console’s position as undisputed leader of the handheld market, bringing gaming to a whole new audience - something that was unimaginable a few years ago!

The innovative Nintendo DS is now helping to shape the whole market with sales of the Nintendo DS console and games being the main drivers behind recent market growth all across Europe.”

Touché, Mr. Ascher, Touché.

More Stats:

• 78% U.S. market share of the portable market
• Mario Kart DS sold over 1 million copies in the U.S.
• Nintendogs sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S.
• Roughly 14.5 million DS hardware units have been sold in North America
• Roughly 10. 5 million DS hardware units have been sold in Japan

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