DS Fastest Selling Japanese Console

Gamasutra reports that the DS is officially the fastest selling console in Japan. The console has taken just twenty months to sell 10 Million units. From the article: "As noted in the report translated by consumer website GameSpot, the Nintendo DS has been credited with reversing the shrinking Japanese games market, with Nintendo DS software and hardware dominating sales charts for at least the last twelve months. With a population of around 128 million, these latest results show that nearly 8 percent of Japanese consumers now own the console." Update: 08/02 21:20 GMT by Z : Fixed reversed month/unit numbers. Sorry, apparently lisdexic today.

Revving up for Wii?

[posterlogo]

It seems that if the rumors of DS connectivity with the Wii are true, this could be a nice little rev up for the Wii launch.

Re:Console?

[mouse_clicker]

So if I were to slap a portable screen and a battery to my Gamecube, would that make it a handheld, not a console now, too? Does the Gameboy Player make GBA games console games now and not handheld games? What exactly differentiates consoles and handhelds if not a self-contained power source and dedicated screen?

-Moses

Re:The precedents back that up -- but 3rd parties?

[Hitto]

OBJECTION!

Final Fantasy : Crystal Chronicles had a gba hook-up mode IIRC, although I've never played it.
Rogue Squadron 3 : Rebel Strike also allows for such connectivity, although it was limited; in versus battle, you could use your GBA to issue orders to your squad without your opponent seeing them on the TV. Oooooh. ... And those are the only two examples that spring to mind. Hmm.

So, yeah, we may call it a failed attempt, or we can call it a stepping stone for the next generation to truly try and give it a huge push. After all, Nintendo has everything to gain by saying "...and if you're one of the TWENTY MILLION people who own a DS, you'll have even more fun with the Wii, the console made by the people who made the DS and brain training! No need to buy a stupid cable anymore, too!" At this point, they rely on their handheld to be an advertisement for their home console - it failed with the GBA because of next to no support and frankly milking customers dry, but things are a lot less complicated when you don't need to buy one cable per friend you wanna play Zelda four swords with.

Do I have any other proof? Sure. One of the biggest believers of this kind of connectivity is Sony. Sure, their whole "299$ retroview mirror in a racing game" idea is a bullshit tech demo. But it reveals the fact that they also think about handheld-home console connectivity. Because they're afraid it's a weapon Nintendo alone could use to their advantage!