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UPDATE: Chart Track has now come up with some numbers to backup its claims: 92,000 Nintendo DSi units were sold over the console’s opening weekend.

Nintendo’s new DSi handheld is off to a flying start in the UK; according to Chart Track data, it has become the fourth fastest selling console ever, easily outdoing the original DS and later DS Lite upgrade. Read on for more.

Even in an age where every new bit of hardware seems to smash the previous leader’s record, this is still an impressive figure for the Nintendo DSi. To all extents and purposes, the Nintendo DSi is not a new console at all, but an upgrade to the existing model, opting for a new SD card reader at the expense of the GBA cart slot, adding a pair of cameras and reducing the thickness by a small degree.

Also bear in mind that in the UK alone, an estimated 5.6m DS and DS Lites were already out there being played – more than the number of PS3s and Xbox 360s combined.

Furthermore, there aren’t even any Nintendo DSi specific games out yet, but despite this, the handheld has managed to outsell Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 in its first few days of sales. Its opening weekend has only been beaten by PS3, Wii and the original PSP.

Where next for the handheld? Chart Track’s Chris Poole explains “It’s difficult to tell if the momentum will continue into the week, as much of the sales would have been pre-ordered.” But once DSiWare gets off the ground, there could be a bigger fish for the DSi to fry…

Out Now | £145 | Nintendo (via MCV) (Available from Amazon)

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  • Mark G

    “Its opening weekend has only been beaten by PS3, Wii and the original PSP.”

    Errm, that’s not very good is it? Added to the fact that 1st week sales are likely to be the highest it will EVER see (as first day sales are 99% pre-orders), and the fact it’s only a small incremental update on the DS, which most people already have is they want one..

    Storming up the charts is a massive lie, it’s actually a huge flop (as PS3 and PSP are constantly being called a flop, yet they outsold the DSI).

    Nintendo PR spin on a flopped launch…

  • Greg Strachan

    “Storming up the charts is a massive lie”

    Let me reiterate that “the handheld has managed to outsell Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 in its first few days of sales”. Or, if you prefer, it’s now topping the UK console charts.

    I never called the PS3 or PSP a flop, although I can admit to using the word ‘struggling’ on occasion. Conversely, we definitely can’t say that DS console has been anything short of a stunning success.

    Unfortunately I don’t have sales figures for the PSP-3000, but I’d place good money on them being nowhere near as high as these. So, not too bad for a hardware reboot.

  • Mark G

    @Greg Strachan

    Sorry I didn’t realise that PSP/PS3 and Wii also launched this week and also has several months of presales to include in their numbers…

    I would hate to think you are comparing apples and oranges (2 months of pre-orders vs 1 day of sales of the other consoles).

    Did the “news” editors here actually go to school?

  • wandarawanda

    Mark G you are a festisio. Someone had to say it…….and it was me. Boom! Can you live with that?

  • wandarawanda

    Mark G…..one word…..and that is “Nintendo” and that means “HERE I AM ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!!!!!!!”

  • wandarawanda

    There is no reason to hate on Nintendo………or have an unjustified Sony Playstation Lovefest. “Rock you like a Hurricans!!!!!”

  • wandarawanda

    School is overrated! “ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!!!!!!!!”

  • wandarawanda

    Do you feel that? Do you feel that………”Hurricane”

  • Greg Strachan

    @MarkG

    I’m really not sure what it is you’re arguing about. First of all you claim the DSi is not off to a very good start, then you yourself point out that it is just ‘a small incremental update on the DS’. I’d suggest that beating the original DS and DS Lite’s launch weekend figures is therefore pretty impressive.

    Next you suggest that the headline is a lie, although the DSi clearly has topped the UK charts.

    But now that’s comparing first week sales with the ongoing sales of the other consoles – apples with oranges, as you put it – so we’ve returned right to the part it’s the fourth fastest selling console, in the UK, ever.

    Again, I have to say for an incremental update, that’s good numbers and a long way from a flop.

    So, what’s really bugging you? The alleged Nintendo spin? None of this information actually originated from Nintendo itself – just from Chart Track, which tracks console and games sales, and MCV, which is a mag for games retailers.

  • Mark G

    Patting yourself on the back for coming 4th? What a pathetic state of affairs…

    Clearly there is other spin in this PR to make it sound better than it is, remove the fluff, and that’s what you are left with, a 4th place loser…

  • wandarawanda

    Don’t worry Mark G……you will always be our number one…….loser…..”HURRICANE!!”

  • Mark G

    OK, so why are you quoting Scorpions songs?

    Perhaps you too are a 4th place under performer….

  • wandarawanda

    Would you like to know why? Because Nintendo means one thing “HERE I AM ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!!!!!”
    The bigger question is……Why aren’t you quoting Scorpions songs?
    What do you have against Nintendo?

  • wandarawanda

    Mark G just ask your mom to buy you one. Seriously.

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