U.S. Nintendo DS Shipments Increased

Officials from Nintendo have announced that the company is to increase total shipments of the Nintendo DS to North America by 40 percent, to 1.4 million systems before the end of the year. The initial batch of 500,000 units reportedly all but sold out within a week, and many stores are now reporting shortages. Some software titles have also apparently been difficult to source, particularly flagship launch game Super Mario 64 DS. North American sales of the console have now reached 700,000, with Japanese sales put at 510,000 for a world-wide installed userbase of 1.2 million after just under three weeks. This is slightly behind the performance of the Game Boy Advance, at the same point in its lifetime, and suggests that Nintendo will easily achieved their goal of 5 million units sold by the end of March 2005, especially if the European launch occurs before that time.