The Nintendo DSi is 12% slimmer, sports 3.25-inch screens, does away with the GBA slot but adds an SD card adapter (download from the web and load off the card), allows you to play music and has two 3-megapixel cameras (one on the inside, the other on the outside). The DSi will become available in Japan on Nov. 1 for 18900 yen ($180) and will also be able to surf the web and catalog your photos in a flipbook or port them to the Wii. Nintendo will also launch a DSi Shop where you can download titles for free, or purchase them for either 200, 500, or 800 points (DSi comes with 1000 points free).Nintendo’s Wii and the NDS comfortably led U.S. sales in March, according to data from the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Pokémon Platinum Version for NDS emerged as the No. 2 video game of the month, with nearly 805,000 units sold.
Wii tallied sales of nearly 601,000 in March, while NDS sold more than half a million, even in advance of the April 5 launch of the new NDSi. Both Wii and NDS extended their lead as the best-selling video game systems of this generation.
“Nintendo systems accounted for 58.4 percent of the video game hardware sold in March, more than all other systems combined,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Consumers continue to be attracted to the wide range of software available and the great value of Nintendo systems.”
Four games published by Nintendo finished in the top 10 best-sellers of March. These include Pokémon Platinum Version at No. 2, Wii Fit at No. 3 with more than 541,000 sold, Wii Play at No. 8 with more than 281,000 sold and Mario Kart Wii at No. 9 with more than 278,000 sold.
Early U.S. sales of the new NDSi are ahead of those for NDS Lite, according to Nintendo’s internal tracking numbers. In its first week, NDSi sold 435,000 in the United States. After the same amount of time on the U.S. market after its launch, NDS Lite had sold 226,300 systems. These numbers demonstrate that the NDS brand remains strong, and that consumers continue to look for the best new experiences on their portable video game systems.
So far this year, video game industry revenues are on par with 2008, but Nintendo remains a key driver. Without Nintendo products, the industry would be down 14 percent for the year, according to the NPD Group.
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