DS Lite Sells Out On Japanese Launch

The Nintendo DS Lite has proven an expected success on its launch in Japan, with most stores now reporting that they are out of stock, according to online reports and information on the official Nintendo Japan website. Hundreds of Japanese consumers lined up in the early hours of the morning to be amongst the first to obtain the new version of the console – actions usually reserved only for new hardware launches. Interestingly, the demographics of the waiting crowds was much more varied than the traditional young males associated with such queues. Although it has no new functionality, the DS Lite is around 25 percent smaller than the original model, features brighter screens with selectable brightness settings and a more stylish design, apparently influenced by that of the forthcoming Revolution home console. After selling 2 million units in December the Nintendo DS has suffered from low stock for the last two months. But consumer's hopes that this situation would be resolved with the launch of the DS Lite have not been realized. Nintendo has confirmed that will be able to ship only 450,000 units of the new console and 200,000 of the old during March. Much of this stock is expected to be sold out this week, although it is not clear what effect the delayed launch of the two additional colors of console on March 11 will have on the situation, or how many units of stock has been produced for each. As a result of the continued hardware stock problems Nintendo has delayed the release of a new Touch! Generations title – a translation tool for Thai, Korean, Chinese, German and English – from the end of March until April. It is unclear at what point the hardware stock problems will be resolved, but if the problems continue much beyond March, they are likely to see a Western release for the redesign delayed well beyond the previously assumed May date.