Nintendo Europe will no doubt be swimming in praise from Kyoto this morning as the official ChartTrack data shows its DS launch to be a massive, record-breaking success.
Indeed, the Nintendo DS has managed to shift a shade over 87,000 hardware units, smashing the launch record for portable hardware formerly held by Nintendo’s own Game Boy Advance which saw sales in excess of 67,000
The campaign has been a triumph for Nintendo Europe’s dogged PR push, which has seen the DS elevated from obscurity to tangible consumer product in the face of belated marketing support and the omnipresent spectre of Sony’s
still-absent-in-Europe PlayStation Portable.However, and somewhat ominously for Nintendo, the overall record for launch sales in Europe was a crown held until today by the GameCube with 69,000 units shifted. The firm will be hoping that jubilant Nintendo fanaticism this time paves the way for sustained market share.
In other news, Gran Turismo 4 took the All Formats number one, with the series still proving wildly popular across the UK. Although the game has been made considerably more difficult, this lack of accessability has done nothing to deter gamers keen to experience what will likely stand as the defining title of the current generation of machines.
For more information on the DS and associated events,
click here to visit the mini-site.
The rest of this week's All Formats top 40 reads like this:
1-Gran Turismo 4
2-Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
3-FIFA Street
4-Super Mario 64 DS
5-The Sims 2: University
6-Wario Ware Touched!
7-Mercenaries
8-Star Wars: Republic Commando
9-Sonic Mega Collection Plus
10-Rayman DS
11-The Spongebob Squarepants Movie
12-Asphalt: Urban GT
13-Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
14-The Simpsons: Hit & Run
15-The Urbz: Sims in the City
16-Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005
17-Playboy: The Mansion
18-Pokemon Dash
19-Spider-man 2
20-Need for Speed: Underground 2
21-FIFA 2005
22-Pro Evolution Soccer 4
23-The Incredibles
24-Sonic Heroes
25-Robots
26-UEFA Champions League 2004-2005
27-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
28-Simpsons: Road Rage
29-Project Rub
30-Project: Snowblind
31-Finding Nemo
32-Ace Combat: Squadron Leader
33-Shrek 2
34-Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
35-GTR FIA GT Racing Game
36-Football Manager 2005
37-Spongebob: Revenge of Flying Dutchman
38-The Sims 2
39-Zoo Keeper
40-Polarium
For full chart details, including movements and platform-specific charts, check out our
charts sections