Quote:Perorders for the handheld console -released on 21st of November in the US, have exceeded expectations by over a million units.

Nintendo of Japan initially put a preorder target of 1 million units for their latest foray into the handheld market, however, preorders for the machine have now topped the two million mark -eye opening indeed.

As a result of this phenomenal demand, shares in Nintendo have now gone up by 4.1% (490 yen), making it a big gainer in the Asian market at the end of the week.

Bearing in mind that share prices will only typically rise following announcements of profits, this bodes well for the actual release of the console as investor confidence should now be on the rise.

Let's hope that the Christmas season is just as kind to the Japanese behemoth, prior to the launch of the console sometime early next year in Europe.

Check out Cube-Europes' dedicated Nintendo DS week leading to the launch of the handheld in the states! The fun starts on the 14th of November!

Quote:Nintendo DS launches on December 2nd over in Japan and pre-orders have gone sky high. According to a newspaper in Japan named Nikkei, over 2 million Nintendo DS preorders are being taken in at various retailers as we speak.

Nintendo announced fairly recently that they will only be shipping 1 million DS units in Japan by the end of the year 2004. Because of this, pre-orders could have to be stopped throughout retailers over the country, as the pre-orders have been almost twice as high as expected.

Quote:Nintendo have exceeded their own expectations because of the 3 million and growing Nintendo DS preorders. Because of this, Nintendo are now producing DS units at a third factory in China.

Nintendo may be pleased with the unpredictable amount of pre-orders there have been, but Nintendo's nightmare is that if not enough of DS consoles are produced for people to find in shops, they may decide to purchase a PSP instead.

Nintendo DS will be launching in American on November 21st and Japan on December 2nd.