DS Impresses in Japan

After shifting a stellar 500,000 units in its first week in the US, Nintendo's DS hit the shops of Japan last Thursday. News that gamers had been queuing up since 6am and that stores were forced to open their doors early were counteracted by later reports suggesting that the event was being greeted with a little less enthusiasm than expected.[br]Whatever. According to an independent Japanese market analyst 230,000 DS units flew off the shelves on day 1, almost half of Nintendo's 500,000 shipment. Compared to other recent hardware launches the figures aren't exactly ballistic, but it's still an impressive total given the midweek launch day.[br][br]Of course, Japanese gamers who were busy on Thursday have now had all weekend to get down to the shops and touch DS. We expect the total first week sales figures to rocket up towards the US figure of 500,000, and Nintendo expect to sell a million in Japan before the end of the year.[br][br]In terms of games, Super Mario 64 DS and Wario Ware Touched were the most popular choices of proud new DS owners, with Sega's Feel the Magic coming in third.[br][br]Nintendo has yet to confirm the sales figures.[br][br]After a strong first week in the US and what looks to be a decent debut in Japan, the DS has set some high targets for Sony's PSP to hit when it launches in Japan on Sunday. Sony is only planning to ship 200,000 units for the launch so it's impossible for the PSP to have as successful a launch day.[br][br]Looks like we'll have to wait a few weeks to get a fuller picture of the DS/PSP sales scoreline. Keep it here for all the updates.