Nintendo DS sells a lot

DS News | 10m in Europe, it says here.

If you still haven't heard by now, get this: Nintendo's DS handheld is pretty damn popular. To advertise this fact, Nintendo has today thrown a press release our way to tell us that the little handheld that could has now sold - that's sold, not shipped - ten million units in Europe. In time-honoured fashion, someone from Ninty was on hand to tell us why this was Really Ace.

“This landmark figure of 10 million Nintendo DS gamers cements the console’s position as undisputed leader of the handheld market," said Nintendo of Europe marketing bod Laurent Fischer, speaking from a private jet made entirely of gold. "It's brought 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.”

Thanks Laurent. And credit where it's due - it feels slightly absurd now to recall there was a time when everyone was queuing up to take potshots at the handheld.

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41 Comments

ObsoletE

5 years ago

theory wrote

ObsoletE wrote

stats != quality.

Adam Sandler films sell tickets by the truckloads, are they good?

Yes.

Case reopened.

you know that my post was specifically for you, don't you?

theory

5 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

theory wrote

ObsoletE wrote

stats != quality.

Adam Sandler films sell tickets by the truckloads, are they good?

Yes.

Case reopened.

you know that my post was specifically for you, don't you?

I do.

I don't wanna get into this whole debate again though, we all know the DS is the best handheld EVAR.

dullestrobert

5 years ago

This is definately an interesting change from the NSider boards where all the DS gets is praise. I can agree with Ugh to some extent that some games are being changed for other audiences in ways older Nintendo fans may not like. However, other games are being changed in ways that I love to become some of my favourites.

It's really funny, however, to hear someone call the DS' library crap and then continue to praise the PSP.

Other than that, there are definately some PSP games I would love to buy (Loco Roco, Breath of Fire + all the other RPGs, Katamari) but the price for the system itself is too high for what it gives. The majority of the good games on it are similar to games on the PS2 which chances are I already own. The DS provides a gaming experience that cannot be done on any other console (perhaps the Wii but only to a minor extent).

With the money Sony has lost on the PSP and is set to lose on the PS3, I don't think theres a chance for a PSP 2 (Sony has also confirmed that there is no PSP 2).

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Sony. The PS2 was easily the best system of the last generation because it had the best and most original games. But Sony has now lost that.

seany

5 years ago

well done ds. what is the game to console ratio for handhelds? Anyone

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

I remember reading somewhere that the pickup rate for the DS was 4 games for every 1 console? Bugger knows when that was, or if indeed my tricksy brain is even dredging up the right info

David

5 years ago

seany wrote

well done ds. what is the game to console ratio for handhelds? Anyone

The Attach rate in the US is about 3.9. (source)

In Japan it's possibly more then 10. Seriously.

armageddon12

5 years ago

There are some interesting PSP games; Loco Roco, Exit, Lumines, Wipeout Pure, Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins. But for every good game there's about 12 ports, none of which interest me. Megaman X, and Megaman Chibi (whatever that one's called), don't really interest me, I'd rather play the originals. Gitaroo Man Lives is just a port. Power Stone Collection is just a port. Katamari isn't meant to be as good as the original, which I'd rather play than a PSP game without dual analog. Gradius Collection, not a big Gradius fan, loved V but that's Treasure's doing, still they are ports.

Those are all the ports I'd be interested in (but probably wouldn't buy). They already outweigh the original games I'd get (and have got in the case of Lumines, and Wipeout Pure). On the DS I have about 20 games now, couple of which are sequels, but on the whole they are new IPs, and mostly when they aren't they are vastly improved over the originals, i.e. Animal Crossing Wild World, online was what the original was crying out for after all.

I disagree on Castlevania needing to be on a PSP, Dawn of Sorrow was great, and the 3 gba games were good. Portrait of Ruin is shaping up to be another good game.

Anyway, I wouldn't get a PSP for those few games I mentioned, and don't see anything else coming that would interest me. Compared with the DS line up, while you say there aren't any games for gamers, there certainly is a greater gamut of them on the DS.

EvilHayama

5 years ago

I think the biggest problem with the PSP is it's not very portable... The few people I know who have psps mostly use them at home, or for watching movies on the train. The long load times, low battery life and lack of "pocketability" hurt it a lot there. If you're using your PSP at home, you could probably be using the PS2 instead.

Ellegarden

5 years ago

admeister wrote

leonmc wrote

DS will become a monster in the next year, with all the Japanese developers getting sqaurely behind it, I can't see how Sony can pull it back.

Agreed. Now tat a clear winner (or at least leader) has been established in the DS, almost every developer will support it.

Ugh: You may think that DS is crap, but the stats say different.

Stats says dreamcast is crap, Saturn is crap, N64 crap and Gamecube is crap, follow logic?

David

5 years ago

UmbrellaCEO wrote

Adameister wrote

Ugh: You may think that DS is crap, but the stats say different.

Stats says dreamcast is crap, Saturn is crap, N64 crap and Gamecube is crap, follow logic?

You missed his entire inference. He wasn't saying something that sells badly is 'crap', he was saying that something that sells incredibly well must be thought of as good by a lot of people.

And your numbers are a bit off there anyway - The N64 and Gamecube each sold more then the DC and Saturn combined.

Reminds me of something - the DS is now confirmed to have sold more then 35 million (10 million Europe, 14 million Japan, 11 million US + ? Australia, China etc). That means the DS, Nintendo's 'N64 + innovation handheld' has now outsold the N64 (33 million).

It's Revenge of the N64!

Ellegarden

5 years ago

David wrote

Thats kinda rhetoric, if something doesnt sell well then it must mean its crap to some people. Kinda like gamecube, it didnt sell well cause some people thought it was crap.

I didnt use numbers, It was counter statement to his words.

Sin Ogaris

5 years ago

Wait, back up a second, someone mentioned Breath of Fire on the PSP. Is this out? Is it a new title? Gimme details, please!

As for the PSP's library anyone who disses the PSP for releasing arsey ports simply cannot praise the DS. The DS is the motherload of arsey ports to the point of quite a large number of DS games are merely GBA games (in every way shape and form) with a pretty picture covering the other screen. All that really needs to be said is... Elf Bowling and Whac-a-Mole. I'm quite sure that nothing THAT bad has been released on the PSP.

That being said though I am still a follower of the Ds as opposed to the PSP simply because the quality titles on it interest me greater than the titles on the PSP. In my own humble opinion it is not the games that have hindered the PSP's sale numbers it is the price of the system, at least that seems to be the reason most of my mates don't own one.

Anyhoo, everyone can now recommence throwing the same arguments back and forth until somebody gets offended and the mods end up telling everyone off.

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

Sin Ogaris wrote

Wait, back up a second, someone mentioned Breath of Fire on the PSP. Is this out? Is it a new title? Gimme details, please!

It's a port of (the sublime) Breath of Fire 3, nothing new or fancy about it AFAIK.

Sin Ogaris

5 years ago

Oh, I've played and beaten that game already. I just started getting into BoF4 which is a really good game, but that's a discussion for another day.

renegadesx

5 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

renegadesx wrote

* Redesign the system, it is big and clunky

matter of opinion. i quite like the look/feel/size of the unit.
and anyway, i'm asking HOW you would plan to make the PSP smaller. you can't say "make it smaller by making it less big and clunky"

renegadesx wrote

* Extend battery life, it is terrible

agreed, but not something that requires a total re-design of the system, just a new battery pack.

renegadesx wrote

* Internal memory, memory cards to me have always been a terrible idea, especially on a handheld

seems somewhat counter-intuitive to your first point. make it smaller, or add more to it, can't really have both.
personally though, i prefer removeable memory, as i can then expand what i have by buying another memory stick/card without deleting everything on the memory i've got.
actually, i'd prefer both, some internal, and a memory card slot, but then if you want to reduce the size, this isn't going to help there either.

renegadesx wrote

* Try to convince 3rd partys to stop making stupid ports of successful AND crap PS2 games and actually release more content suitable for a handheld.

this, i agree with. there are some very good games on the PSP with portability in mind, but then there are also some games (some of which are fantastic as games)that really aren't suited to a handheld unit.
but then, wtf does this have to do with re-designing the PSP into a PSP-Lite?

renegadesx wrote

* Reduce the cost.

same could be said of the $200 DS-Lite.
and again: wtf does this have to do with re-designing the PSP into a PSP-Lite?

PSP-Lite is only part of my point.,
Also throwing in half a gig of memory would not take that much space, smaller than a memory stick duo,

The design of the thing is part of the problem but not the whole problem. Problems are also 3rd parties, I love Burnout on Playstation, but on handhelds? please, DS is guilty of this too, but PSP is flooded with these types of games

DS should drop the price a bit, but it's not like they really need too, they are selling like hotcakes regardless, for the PSP to be made as an attractive alternative, they need to start competing with them on price.

InfernalEternal

5 years ago

David wrote

seany wrote

well done ds. what is the game to console ratio for handhelds? Anyone

The Attach rate in the US is about 3.9. (source)

In Japan it's possibly more then 10. Seriously.

I did some math and it appears to be more or less around 3.8 in Japan. I used both Software/Hardware figures from VGCharts (55,337,500 V 14,571,250). Due to the source this shouldn't be taken as 100% accurate, but until Nintendo release their new figures its more-or-less a good indication (unless M-Create have software totals...?).