Five million is a magic number
Rapid sales of the new Lite push European DS numbers skyward
More than 200,000 DS Lites were sold within ten days of the slimline console's release on the 23rd of June, according to a jubilant Nintendo. The rush for a Lite also put the total number of DS consoles sold in Europe (both the original DS and new DS Lite) past the five million mark.
This keeps the dual screen console atop the PSP in terms of numbers of consoles sold, says Nintendo, though Sony has yet to release any figures since launching a white version of its contender.
Nintendo is attributing its success to the wide appeal of the games available for the DS and, considering they range from Nintendogs to Metroid Prime: Hunters to Big Brain Academy, it's certainly one of the company's strengths.
"During Nintendo DS Lite launch weekend, retailers across Europe said that they had never seen such a vast array of different people buying the product, everyone from business men to young women to grandfathers," enthused Laurent Fischer, European marketing director for Nintendo in Europe.
Other numbers released by Nintendo (the staff were obviously been busy with their calculators over the weekend) revealed that more than three million copies of Nintendogs have been sold in Europe, meaning that more than one out of every two DS owners potentially have a puppy in their pocket.