Europe Gets Nintendo DS Price Drop, New Bundles

Officials from Nintendo of Europe have announced a long-expected price cut for the company's Nintendo DS handheld. In line with similar drops in North America and in Australia, the Nintendo DS will drop to €129.99 ($157) in continental Europe and £89.99 ($160) in the UK from early next month. Although the price cut is minor – the console was previously priced at €149.99 ($181) in Europe and £99.99 ($178) in the UK – it is being timed to coincide with the release of Nintendogs on October 7th, when two new bundles will be created for the game. Similar to the recently announced U.S. bundle, though with a marginally different pack-in, a new pink version of the console will be bundled with Nintendogs: Dachshund & Friends and a teal colored version with Nintendogs: Labrador & Friends. Both bundles will be priced at €149/£99. Nintendo claims that 6.65 million Nintendo DS consoles have currently been sold worldwide, although there is no breakdown or independent sales figures for overall European sales. The DS, however, did get off to a fairly promising start in Europe, with 500,000 console units in the first three weeks after its March 11th release date, according to Nintendo. In previously released news, the company had also revealed over 1.5 million copies sold of Nintendogs in North America and Japan, with a quarter of a million sold in the U.S. in its first week, with similarly impressive numbers hoped for in European territories, both with the stand-alone software and pack-in hardware deals.