Nintendo: DS Has Best Year In History, Wii Not Far Behind

Nintendo has released its post-NPD results statement, saying the Nintendo DS has had the best year in console gaming history and pointing to exceptionally strong sales of the Wii console in 2009. According to Nintendo, the Nintendo DS models -- Nintendo DS Lite and DSi -- sold over 11.2 million U.S. units combined in 2009, which the company says sets a new calendar-year sales record for a piece of video game hardware. The Wii, meanwhile, sold 9.6 million units for the year -- down 5.7 percent from 2008. According to Nintendo, 18.6 percent of units the system has sold over its lifetime were sold in November and December 2009, a spike which the company clearly hopes will imply a bright future for the system as competitors criticize it as being outdated. As of the end of 2009, lifetime U.S. sales for the Wii have surpassed 27.2 million units, according to the company (using figures sourced from the NPD Group). At the same time, lifetime Nintendo DS sales have topped 38.8 million units, which beats its immediate predecessor the Game Boy Advance. "Wii, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi combined to sell more than 7 million units in the month of December alone," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, in the statement. "Clearly there is overwhelming consumer demand for fun games, motion controls and value. This remarkable hardware sales surge presents a tremendous software opportunity for Nintendo and its third-party partners as we head into 2010." Though Wii games dominated the 2009 NPD chart, despite Dunaway's exhortation, none were third party-developed, which will help to fuel recent claims that it's difficult to compete with the firm on its own platform.