Nintendo: 3DS Day-One Sales Higher Than Any Nintendo Handheld

Nintendo says its 3DS launch saw the highest day-one sales of any portable system in the company's history, although it declined to reveal specific figures. The company is not in the habit of revealing day-one figures for its hardware launches, but says it will make first-week figures available on April 14 when NPD Group reports on U.S. retail sales for March. "Nintendo worked hard to get as much product as possible to retailers on day one to meet demand, and we will continue with these efforts moving forward," the company said in a statement. The device just launched in the UK on March 25 and in the U.S. on the 27th, supported by a launch lineup of about 30 titles. Preorders for the device were presumed to be high as well, with online retailer Amazon announcing that the 3DS saw preorders on its site double that of Wii's in both the U.S. and in the UK at the same point prior to its launch. In the UK, for example, the device saw about 140,000 preorders across all retailers, according to Nintendo, and was forecast by analysts to move about 200,000 units over its first weekend.