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Quantifying the DS Lite's Japanese Dominance 84

Posted by Zonk from the adding-numbers-to-knowing dept.
kukyfrope writes "According to the data trackers at Media Create, for the week of May 29th through June 4th the DS Lite sold 135,614 units in Japan, easily beating out the PSP (24,595 units), PS2 (18,513 units) and Xbox 360 (just 1,245 units). New Super Mario Bros. for DS also sold 334,208 units, putting total sales at about 1.2 million, in just 2 weeks. 'From the end of last year up until right now the sales of DS and DS Lite in Japan have been simply explosive. It was unprecedented in the Japanese game [industry] history for there to be that kind of incredible demand for one platform,' said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata."
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Quantifying the DS Lite's Japanese Dominance More

Quantifying the DS Lite's Japanese Dominance

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  • You know Nintendo must be doing something right if a REMAKE of the DS is selling like hotcakes. Hopefully this continues on with the Wii, forcing Sony to actually do something interesting for their PS4.

    BTW... I want one, but since I already have the red Mario Kart DS... I'll wait for other colors first.
    • It's not just any remake, though. Like the PStwo, it is seriously a completely new piece of hardware with a cavalcade of major upgrades. I saw the original and shrugged, while the DS-lite, along with New Super Mario and Brain Age, made this a must-buy. Nintendo seems to have cracked some secret marketing code that lets them continuously unleash ferocious barrages of exciting and comprehensive products these days.

      With this and the upcoming Wii, I'd say Nintendo is gearing up for a hilarious revenge to the
      • The specific upgrades in this "remake" I'm interested in are longer battery life, brighter screen, and sleeker design. Sony never did beat Nintendo in the handheld market so the DS isn't getting any revenge. We'll have to see that about the Wii vs PS3.
        • Of course not the handheld market. Think about what Nintendo is currently doing, though: building momentum. The spectacular performance at E3, a game adults will want to play, a major upgrade to the DS, and in mere months, the Wii will beat the PS3 to market. God only knows what other bombs Nintendo is going to drop in the interim.

          Considering my PS2 library greatly eclipses my Gamecube games, one might consider me a Sony/PS2 fanboy... but after seeing (and buying) the new DS, Nintendo has finally made me
      • the DS-lite, along with New Super Mario and Brain Age, made this a must-buy.

        Does Brain Age recognize the word "blue" more consistently when running on the Lite?

        • I don't have much trouble with Blue. It's actually a little too sensitive in my opinion. Sometimes I'll stumble and say part of the color, and correct myself, but it still doesn't get the clearly enunciated thing I said. It only works if you say the right color from the very beginning, which I guess is how it is supposed to work.

          They did move the3 microphone, so maybe that has something to do with it.
        • My DS absolutely recognizes the colors black, red, yellow, and "LOOOOOOO."

          In fact, I've taken to referring to my denim pants as "LOOOOO jeans."

          And I just love all the colors of the rainbow: ROY G LIV.
    • I'm waiting on a Lite until they come out with the color that's similar to the pearl blue backlit GBA-SP that I have. That color is out in Japan but not the US yet. In the meantime I have my regular DS. I'm REALLY impressed with the screens on the DS Lite, but I don't particularly want the white one (plus I'm a little short on money now), so I'll wait till they have the color I want. I don't really want to pay extra to import one.

  • I totally get it. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Thursday June 15, 2006 @02:36PM (#15542189) Homepage

    I have owned every game boy model released in the US except for the Micro and I totally get why the DS Lite has sold so well. I just bought one two or three days ago to replace my DS (which worked fine).

    Let's ignore that it's smaller, sexier, fixes the top-heavy problem, etc. There is only one thing that matters about the DS above all else...

    The screen is amazing.

    It's on par with the PSP for clarity (although I realize the resolution is lower). It is an AMAZING step up. It's like going from the original GameBoy to the Pocket. Remember playing a GB after the pocket? It looked so muddy and blurry and such you wondered how you could ever use the thing. The difference with the Lite is just night and day. The lowest brightness setting is about equivalent to the what the DS looks like. But with the settings on the Lite you can play anywhere. Is it dark? You can see great on the lowest setting. Out in the sun? You can see great on the highest setting. It's possible to play the DS Lite outside on sunny days in the shade, where the DS was basically unplayable there.

    But it gets BETTER. It's so much sharper and crisper (partially due to the brighter backlight, I'd think). I've been playing Trauma Center and it looks like a different game. I wish I hadn't sold so many of my DS games so I could stick them in to see just how much better they look. It's an AMAZING difference.

    People complain about Nintendo doing things like this because "it's the same system", but the difference is night and day. I dare anyone to look at both and like the DS's screen over the Lite's. About the only way I could see you complaining about the Lite is the buttons (they have a different feel and if you had large hands I could see it being uncomfortable).

    The thing is selling that well for a reason. It's just that good.

    • Last night I compared my DS & Mario Kart to my friends new Lite @ Mario Kert, side by side, and it was pretty painful to note now much better it looked on his. I will be getting one of these as soon as the US gets other colors besides white.
      • Another sysadmin at work got a DS Lite this week and we have been playing on the bus everyday to and from work. The Lite is so much brighter than my launch DS it makes me drool. Brighter, sharper, more color saturation.

        It really is a huge difference.
  • How did this turn intto a 360 discussion?

    M$ only invested about $20 in advertising the system in Japan. Many gamers over there aren't even aware the system exists. Gamers are going to the store to buy an Xbox1 not even knowing there is a 360 out.

    In the United States it is still doing well, both in consoles sold and games sold/console. Here is the wrap up of last weeks games sold in the US.

    6 Xbox 360 games.
    2 Gamecube games.
    1 DS game (New Super Mario Brothers, which was #1 on the list).
    1 PS2 ga

  • Different Demographic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KeiichiMorisato ( 945464 ) on Thursday June 15, 2006 @03:33PM (#15542747)
    Nintendo is achieving these numbers for the DS (in general) because they have successfully sold to a new demographic.

    When I see 4 girls in a movie theatre, before the show starting, laughing and giggling out loud with a DS in each of their hands playing a multiplayer game wirelessly, Nintendo has done something right.

    When I see a mom and her 5 year old daughter (well she looked around that age), playing with their DSes wirelessly together, obviously Nintendo has done something right.

    • I live in Japan and am a happy DS owner, although I haven't taken the Lite plunge yet (although some comments in this discussion thread make me pretty curious). DS is approaching a mass market status similar to, I don't know, iPods? You don't have to be a gamer to own a DS. I take classes in Japanese every week and my fifty-something female teacher told me "You know, if you want to improve your handwriting, there is a lot of software for that. I use [DS Brain Training] myself, actually." (Side note to
  • The other two are only in the console market to destroy it, and replace consoles with laptops (Sony) or tablets (MS). MS uses it's presence to skirt anti-trust law and buy game developers to put the programmers out of work. MS programs to put IT workers out of work is why there are over 100,000 FOSS projects. Nintendo got it right. When the other 2 got in the HD DVD war, Nintendo realized that illegal dumping had nothing to do with gaming. Nintendo continued to focus on game play. Nintendo continues to por
  • The best part about the DS Lite 'upgrade' is that suddenly people have two DS-es they don't need. So they give their old hardware away or sell it cheap. The old DS is given to someone else who first finds they're really fun to own and play on, and then realise that they'd rather a DS Lite for the additional benefits. So then they get a lite and pass on the DS to someone else yet again.

    My old DS was given away to a college-age girl who never was really interested in games. Now I hear she's pretty addicted. S

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