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DS Fastest Selling Japanese Console 72

Posted by Zonk from the flying-out-the-doors-on-dual-wings dept.
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.
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DS Fastest Selling Japanese Console More

DS Fastest Selling Japanese Console

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  • Console? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kannibal_klown ( 531544 )
    Hmm, I don't personally classify it as a console but a handheld. Then again I'm sure I'm wrong in the matter. Personally I'm waiting for the Wii.
    • It is a type of console. It is a portable console, may be a better way of putting it... but It is definately in the console family.
      (Maybe the order console, and Nintendo family... depending on the Taxonimy you want to use)

    • Re:Console? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by mouse_clicker ( 760426 )
      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
      • Does the Gameboy Player make GBA games console games now and not handheld games?

        It makes them both. But the Nintendo DS and the Virtual Boy are the only Nintendo systems that can't be displayed on a TV and thus can't be tape-recorded, hindering people's ability to tape their play and learn by watching video replays.

        • The DS doesn't have a stationary console counterpart yet, so it's possible that Nintendo will release something for the Wii that lets the DS show the screens on TV and use the DS as the controller. They could also use the Wiimote to emulate the DS stylus.

          This is just wild speculation, though, so don't take this seriously.
        • But the Nintendo DS and the Virtual Boy are the only Nintendo systems that can't be displayed on a TV and thus can't be tape-recorded

          1. The DS can indeed be displayed on TV screens. Many larger game showrooms have DS kiosks with the output of the DS being sent to a pair of 13" screens mounted above it.
          2. This is the strangest criterion for defining a console that I've ever heard of.
          3. What is "tape-recorded"? Is it anything like capturing an MPEG stream?

          • 1. The DS can indeed be displayed on TV screens. Many larger game showrooms have DS kiosks with the output of the DS being sent to a pair of 13" screens mounted above it.

            Where can a member of the public buy one of these?

            2. This is the strangest criterion for defining a console that I've ever heard of.

            It's an extension of the criterion that a video game system designed to output to the family TV set is a console. The Super NES with Super Game Boy is a console. The GameCube with Game Boy Player is a con

            • Re:Console? (Score:4, Informative)

              by 7Prime ( 871679 ) on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @06:10PM (#15835480) Homepage Journal
              It's an extension of the criterion that a video game system designed to output to the family TV set is a console. The Super NES with Super Game Boy is a console. The GameCube with Game Boy Player is a console. But no console available to the public as of August 2006 runs DS software.

              I think what he means is, "what use is this as criteria?" Being able to be played on a TV or off a TV does not drastically change the marketting demographic or style of gameplay. Portability does, but it seems that this is not what we're talking about. There has to be a compelling reason to divide objects into different catagories. Defining a handheld as "something that can never be played on a TV" is meaningless catagorization. It may be true, but it has no real value as a catagorical feature. Defining a handheld in terms of how it is played, and where it can be played, are far more useful features in defining the catagory, as they have a noticable impact on the demographic, style of gameplay, marketting, etc.

              There are subtle differences between consoles and handheld consoles, but probably the only large difference is that today's handhelds = yesterday's consoles, in terms of ability, and to a lesser extent, style of gameplay (GameGear is a Master System derivitive, GBA is an SNES derivitive, the DS is basically an N64 with a whole new interface system, the PSP is a PlayStation derivitive), there may be some differences in hardware and programming, but generally, their aim is to achieve the level of power and style of the last generation system.

              The DS is the first major handheld (unless you count the Virtual Boy) to take the console genre in a drastically different direction from its TV-based counterpart. Nintendo finally used the fact that it is a self contained, portable, piece of hardware, as a way of prividing functionality that a TV-based console can't do. This is an exception... not the rule.

              But for the most part, the only really notable differences between handhelds and TV-based consoles are:

              1. They're portable
              2. They're generally a generation behind, in terms of graphics, sound, and gameplay style
              3. The games are weighted toward being able to quickly pick up/put down the system (though, often this is simply the addition of a "quick save" feature).

              One can make a pretty good arguement that these differences are fairly irrelivant, in terms of gameplay experience, at least to their last-gen TV-based counterparts. So, yeah, I would consider handheld games to be a slight varrient on the TV-based console world. Although, since the DS and PSP are able to handle the same KINDS of graphics as their current TV-based counterparts (if not up to their quality, but at least their style), the generation gap is becoming less and less apparrent. Metroid Prime Hunters is solidly a current generation title, for instance (even if I thought it was terrible in comparison to its GameCube counterparts). GTA: Liberty City Stories is (supposedly) able to replicate the gameplay experience of GTAIII; in fact, it was popular enough to be the first game ever (I believe) to be ported from a handheld to a TV-based console.

              • GTA: Liberty City Stories ... was popular enough to be the first game ever (I believe) to be ported from a handheld to a TV-based console.

                Wasn't Tetris released first on Game Boy, not counting the infringing version by Tengen?

        • 1. See youtube 2. Search for DS videos 3. Find way to retract comment.
          • 1. See youtube 2. Search for DS videos

            3. Find that the vast majority of them are really fscking shaky and blurry. 4. Check prices and find that fifty dollars for a Game Boy Player accessory and $40 for a VCR is a lot more affordable to the average video game player than $300 for a camcorder.

    • Well, what is 'handheld' short for, in this context? 'Handheld orgasmotron'? 'Handheld monkey-detector'?
  • to the bank!

  • Revving up for Wii? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by posterlogo ( 943853 ) on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @02:41PM (#15833926)
    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.

    • The N64 had a GC Color hook-up, and the GC hooks up to the GBA for some titles. They've all been titles developed by Nintendo as far as I know. Never anything essential for a game, either -- always funny little add-ons. (You could play as Tingle in Zelda-Windwaker, and it was more fun than I'd ever have thought.)

      If Nintendo could get third-party developers to buy into the idea, that would reflect a critical mass they're reaching on the Wii. Can't imagine that would happen right off, though.

      • You can possibly use the Wii as a DS connect station or whatever it's called. So you could, for example, download game demos and such through it. That's great right there.
      • 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
      • I always imagined the problem with the GBC adapter and the GBA cord were that third parties didn't want to rely on people having an extra bit of kit to make it work. If Nintendo did the whole shebang wirelessly, I imagine a lot more devs would buy into it (though probably not the majority, I imagine).

    • Re:Revving up for Wii? (Score:2, Informative)

      by trdrstv ( 986999 )
      "if the rumors of DS connectivity with the Wii are true."

      Rumors? [ign.com]

  • Take a good, solid product, that you can take with you on the go. Add in some really good, and imaginative games, and you really do have a winner. Not to mention, the price point is far below most other "consoles" on the market. The DS is a real winner.
    • Not only is the price far below most console systems, but the games are affordable too. Plus there are some really great games on the DS. A game doesn't need the most up to date hardware to be awesome. Super Puzzle Fighter II still keeps me entertained.
    • Not to mention that the DS encourages its portability more than the PSP does: take note of the big-box stores having "DS Download Stations" that allow a travelling DS user to crack open their device and play a slew of demos and videos right in the store for free, as well as the friend-code system. A bevy of DS players all in range of each other showing off their nifty devices to passersby has to do SOMETHING for the medium.

      In contrast, the "Playstation Spots", which are the PSP's approximate equals, are onl

  • Summary is wrong (Score:5, Informative)

    by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @02:45PM (#15833976)
    The summary says "The console has taken just ten months to sell 20 Million units", but it should be "20 months to sell 10 million units." The DS was released in Nov. 2004.
    • MOD PARENT INFORMATIVE

      Straight from the first paragraph of the article...
      According to a report from Japanese newspaper Kyoto Simbun, the Nintendo DS has become the fastest console or handheld ever to sell 10 million units in Japan, taking just 20 months to reach the milestone, an extremely impressive feat for the Kyoto-headquartered firm.
    • The summary says "The console has taken just ten months to sell 20 Million units", but it should be "20 months to sell 10 million units." The DS was released in Nov. 2004.

      Might it refer to the DS Lite? Ten months sounds about right for the timescale on which that's been available in Japan, and from what I hear they've been unable to keep them in the shops at all...

      • . . .from what I hear they've been unable to keep them in the shops at all...

        Well, but. . .why would anybody want to do that?

        "Well boys, this is it, opening time. To the barricades!"

        Negras tormentas agitan los aires
        nubes oscuras nos impiden ver
        Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
        contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.

        KFG
      • FTFA The DS Lite has already sold 2.34 million units in two months in Japan

        Hope that helps this time...

      • From the article:

        The DS Lite has already sold 2.34 million units in two months in Japan, with the newly redesigned version of the harder also appearing to stimulate sales in North America and Europe and continuing Nintendo's successful handheld spell.

        So, no, it's a typo. Also, the DS Lite launched in March of this year in Japan, which by my reckoning is only 5 months ago.

    • Obviously another attack from Stephen Colbert. Not only have the elephant population tripled, but the DS population has doubled.
    • What makes it more amusing to me is that the math in the quoted part of the article after the summary works out if it's 10 million but not if it's 20 million. Even without clicking the link you notice something's wrong...

    • Several Corrections. (Score:3, Informative)

      by trdrstv ( 986999 )
      Ok. Here's the Break down:

      The DS debuted in North America in November 2004.

      The DS debuted in Japan in December 2004.

      The DS Lite debuted in North America in June 2006.

      The DS Lite debuted in Japan in March 2006.

      The 21 million sold [joystiq.com] Includes all versions (including lite, and multiple colors) from Every region from the earliest launch (USA) until July 24, 2006.

      10 million of the 21 million were sold in JAPAN alone. Japan's Population is about 128 million people [google.com] meaning about 8% of the population (of J

  • Isnt 20 million sold out of 128 million people ~15%?

  • This bodes well for the Wii (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dividedsky319 ( 907852 ) on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @03:06PM (#15834178)
    The DS isn't nearly as powerful as the PSP. Yet the DS vastly outsells the PSP.

    This is a great example of innovation and gameplay beating out a focus on horsepower and flashy features.

    This, combined with the eventual connectivity between the DS and the Wii is a great thing for the Wii. Thanks to the fact that the DS already has wireless connectivity, there are essentially 20 million possible Wii controllers in the hands of people around the world.
    • It's not just that.. Keep in mind Nintendo's plan is to expand the base of gamers to include your parents, grand parents, people who never thought or were never interested in playing videogames.

      Games like Brain Age, Nintendogs, etc... are games that are meant not just for gamers, but those people. Hell my dad is playing videogames again (he use to play them, dropped to just RTS games, then RTS games on PCs, then off gaming completly). With the recent games he's been playing the DS more now. He may not
    • The DS isn't nearly as powerful as the PSP. Yet the DS vastly outsells the PSP.

      When has it ever been the most powerful console that won the largest market share?

      The Atari 2600 technically shouldn't have been able to play any game more complex than Pong, and yet even when more advanced consoles like the Intellivision, Colecovision, and Atari's own 5200 appeared, they still couldn't sell as well as the original VCS.

      The Sega Master System and TurboGrafx-16 both had superior graphics to the 8-bit NES (if simila
      • Exactly. I never understood why MS, and Sony kept touting the the biggest best specs, since it obviously =/= sales.

        You can also throw in the PS1 being inferior to the N64 in every way, but storage. Or how Every iteration of the GameBoy had a more powerful rival, but beat them all.

      • That's an interesting observation. I'd never noticed that before, but you appear to be correct. I thought the SNES did have a much larger market share than the Genesis, but I don't have any numbers, so I'm not sure.

        That applies to handhelds as well. The GameBoy couldn't compare favorably in just about any way to the GameGear except for battery life, yet the GameBoy won hands down. Throughout the GameBoy family's lifespan, it's had to compete with quite a few systems vastly more powerful than the then
        • SNES had ~50M units to the Genesis's ~35M (Wikipedia is your friend). It did have a larger market share, but not a dominant one. Split pretty evenly is probably the most accurate, especially given generations since then.
    • I am in the market for a handheld to replace my stolen GBA :(, and I definitely agree. PSP is not even in consideration, as much as I like Wipeout. Too high a price, too few games, and a company that has a reputation for poor workmanship means no PSP for me.

      I just wish Nintendo would keep backwards compatibility a bit better. Yes, each generation of handheld can play the games of the previous generation, but each also breaks multiplayer compatibility with the previous.

      When you're a casual gamer like me, or
  • Wish I could find the link, but I saw stats from Japanese sales for a week or two ago. The DS Lite had approx 250K in sales, where the second place seller, the PSP, had approx. 35K in sales. The DS "Phat" (as the chart called it) came in fourth place or so with about 20K units. The Xbox had 0 in sales. The fact that the DS is not only able to sell out the PSP, but at such a large rate shows that Nintendo has figured out what's going on. I wouldn't be surprised if we see similar charts come December for t

  • Nintendo DS Lite + Advance Wars: Dual Strike = Digital Crack.

    I've been playing that one game for several hours almost every day for a month since I bought it and a DS Lite. It's so good I've barely played New Super Mario Bros., and I've been waiting years for another 2D Mario game.

    New Super Mario Bros. is a great game, too, BTW. I had to visit seven stores before I found one that wasn't sold out of copies.

    I was a little wary when I first picked up a DS Lite. I bought a GameBoy Advance a few years a

    • I bought Advance Wars: Dual Strike last october, and it is by far the game that i have played the most on my DS. 93 some hours, and it's still a blast to play. And even better when you have other people to play against.
      • I'm at 123 hours, and am close to beating the campaign the second time through on hard mode. I can't imagine how long you'de have to play to get all the stars filled in the history mode. Awesome game.
        • I was actually hoping it was going to be delayed. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this game (I loved the GBA ones too), but think about this: It came out in August 2005, but Nintendo Wi-Fi connection was just around the corner.

          Hopefully AW:DS 2 will have online, and VoIP... This series would be GREAT for online, and given the nature of the game it should be relatively easy to do.

  • These figures are never 'adjusted' and we will constantly see newer and newer products breaking records. That's why every year a new movie breaks all-time records for box office receipts and why more cars are sold every year - it's due to the inflating dollar and/or inflating population.

    To sidetrack a little bit, cases of reported road rage have risen steadily 5% every year, which is cause for alarm if you are to beleive the sources unchecked. But if you dig a little deeper, you'll find that there are 8%
    • Interesting argument, but cars have been for sale for about a century at this point, so inflation will have a greater percieved effect on sales numbers. Video games have been around for about 25 years now, but only have recieved mass acceptance since the original playstation was released. The fact that the DS has sold 20 million units since it's release is incredibly impressive, particularly since it's both a handheld console, and also that it's competing with two other gameboy products on the market (GBA S
      • For the record, I just picked automobiles out of the air as a random example, I didn't actually research the numbers. :)

        I'm a huge Nintendo fanboy - Mario theme is my ringtone, and I don't rush to answer it on a crowded bus - but my hatred for bending of statistics outweighs even Nintendo's giant size.

        I'd like for all "Best EVAR!" statistics to change to accurately reflect the market and give us a *fair* sense of what is happening. Let's face it - who really cares that it sold 20 million units? Does t
    • it's due to the inflating dollar and/or inflating population.

      This is units, not sales amounts.

      As for inflating populations, Japan's population basically hasn't budged in the last 10 years (less than a 2% increase), and even back to 1980, it's only about an 8% total increase. You're not talking about a major correction here.

      I think it's safe to say that the DS, even corrected for population sizes, would very likely easily stay on top.

      As for the NES versus the DS? The Famicom only sold 500,00 units in its fir

  • DS vs Wii (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ZephyrXero ( 750822 ) <zephyrxero@[ ]oo.com ['yah' in gap]> on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @04:30PM (#15834771) Homepage Journal
    I wonder if the Wii will be able to blow those numbers out of the water? (the correct numbers [slashdot.org] I mean) ;)

    The hype for the Wii, silly/stupid name or not, seems bigger than any I've ever seen for a single console. DS didn't really have a huge number of early adopters, it had to prove itself to many before it really started to take off...
  • Article CLEARLY states 10 million units in 20 monthes. Not 20 million in 10 monthes. Both numbers are great, but let's get a little accuracy up there.
  • Ok, I own both a DS (original) and a PSP, and I love them both. PSP is like a portable entertainment system and a true portable console.. (hence the name)... The DS is a great game sysem with fun inventive games... BUT... if you go to Metacritic.com and look at the number of GREEN (75 or above) rated games for PSP and DS, you'll see that the perception that there are no good games for the PSP is quite wrong(at least by ratings).. There are 50 games(and one movie?) listed that get a 75 or better score for th
    • Do you realize that a 75 isn't a very high score?

      If instead you look at the number of games 89 and above, you'll see that the DS has 5 to the PSP's 2. And those are the games that are getting the most praise between the 2 systems.
      • Plus the DS has a lot of KILLER games that just didn't get high ratings.

        For instance: Viewtiful Joe, Electroplankton, True Swing Golf (Pretty good game), Pac-Pix, Super Princess Peach, etc..

        A lot of the games ranked in the 8.0 range are basically cult classics and hard to come by like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Trauma Center: Under the Knife.

        Also look at the high ranked PSP games. They're mostly ports of existing games or stuff like sports games.

        A lot of them aren't very good on the go either. Most of
        • Oh and I forgot to mention all of the upcoming games for the DS compared to the PSP.

          Zelda, Children of Mana, FFIII (never released in the US before, and completely re-designed with new graphics) and TONS of others.

          The DS might be behind in higly ranked games now, but it won't be for long.
        • loading times may make PSP games annoying on the go, but to be fair I find shouting "Objection!" on the train rather embarrassing, and there's no way I'd be able to operate Trauma Center on rickety public transport either.
          • I think my point is being mssed. 1. 75 is a high rating... it's considered a good game by raters, and is classifed as such by metacritic. Do I agree with all the scores? No, of course not. I love a lot of games that got marginal ratings at best, and other high scorers don't appeal at all (Hot Shots Golf), but I can at least see what the reasons for the ratings were. Also DS has more lower rated games than the PSP. 2. This is not my personal opinion. I simply stated PSP has more higher rated games as calc
          • Yes, PSP load times suck, but understandable, if you're starting the game from scratch, but if you have a game in progress and just toggle the standby mode, it's fast and commute friendly... Yes, DS games that have you talking outloud like Nintendogs, Brain Training (there is option to do non vocal training) and such are not very commute friendly... I would say a lot of the stylus games aren't very commute friendly either, as it takes a steady unjostled hand, but it doesn't mean those games are bad.

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