Nintendo Sells 500k DS Handhelds
Just one week after launch, Nintendo has announced they have already sold half a million units. ‘Sold’ being a key term here, contrasting with when Nokia announced 400k ‘shipped’ N-Gage devices after just one month, but they were just stagnating in retail channels. It seems Nintendo, the market leader in handheld gaming, is continuing its success with a holiday season debut of 500k unit sales the US alone, and with sales outstripping supply. The Nintendo DS has two screens, and also two types of wireless connections: Bluetooth for local inter-player gaming with up to 16 players, and WiFi to connect to the Internet and multiplayer servers. Also included is a chat app, PictoChat, so players can jibe at opponents. There is no WWAN radio, meaning that (unlike the N-Gage) this device cannot act as a cell phone, or connect to wide area wireless networks.
