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Nintendo's DS passes the 5 million mark

Nintendo Co, the world's biggest maker of handheld video game players, said sales of its DS portable video game player reached 5.44 million in Japan since its introduction in December last year.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata released the sales figures for its DS player and software at a press conference in Tokyo today. Iwata said the company had four games that have sold more than 1 million units in Japan.

The company's brainteaser game sold 13.8 million units, while its animal-themed game sold 12.7 million copies. The company's Nintendogs, a virtual pet game, has sold 10.8 million, approximately the same total as the company's second-best selling brainteaser game.

Sony Corp is denting Nintendo's dominance in the handheld game arena after last year introducing its PlayStation Portable, which can play games, movies and music. Sony on Oct. 27 raised its full-year forecast for the PSP, as the player is known, for the second time this year and said it expects to ship 14 million units.

Nintendo last month cut its global sales forecast for its DS player, which allows users to play games by touching one of the gadget's two screens. The company expects to sell 12 million units worldwide by March next year, compared with an earlier forecast of 12.4 million units.

The company also last month raised its software sales forecast for DS games 14 percent to 40 million units this business year, led by Nintendogs, a game in which players look after a dog by petting it on the screen and teaching it tricks through voice commands.

Iwata said its DS player passed the 5 million sales mark in one year and three weeks, faster than any of its other game player formats. It took Sony's PSP 17 months to get to 5 million sales in Japan and Nintendo's own Gameboy Advance reached the mark in 14 months, Iwata said.

Sony's PSP can play games, movies and music and access the Internet. Sony has shipped 5.06 million units as of June 30, and expects the total to rise to 15.97 million by March.
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