Video Gaming’s Stealth Success: The Nintendo DS
Author: AF Duncan
July 16th, 2008
The Wii (and the 360 and the PS3) gets all the press, but is Nintendo’s DS technically the most successful system of all time? I have no idea of the numbers, but tellingly, it sounds like most of Nintendo’s big announcements at E3 had more to do with the DS than the Wii.
The DS’s sales growth continues to impress the gaming industry. Thanks to hit games like Pokemon and the new Guitar Hero, analysts expect the DS to have outsold the Wii in June when NPD Research releases its monthly figures later this week. Nintendo executives say lifetime sales of the DS are expected to reach more than 100 million.
“People thought 2007 would be the peak year for the DS,” said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime on Tuesday. “We’re running 12% ahead of last year’s record [U.S. sales] of 8.5 million.”
Women and girls have been a growing segment of Nintendo’s success with the DS. They represented 30% of DS owners in 2005 and shot up to nearly half of all buyers in 2007.
Also, this sounded amazing:
Wii Music, an irreverent musical game that will debut later this year, closed the 1 ½-hour event. Nintendo attempted to create suspense with smoke rising on the stage and bright lights bouncing around the Kodak Theater, but it had a goofy effect. A guy with a faux Mohawk waved the Wii nunchucks and tapped his bare feet on the balance board to simulate drumming while Nintendo’s legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto strolled out on stage pretending to play a saxophone by holding his Wii controller close to his mouth.
JAPAN: UR DOIN IT AWESUM.
And how the shit is Pokemon still around? Can anyone explain this? Pop culture common sense would dictate that its shelf life ran out about 10+ years ago, but wow does that franchise have legs. I heard a kid talking about it in line at the grocery store just the other day!
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3 Responses to “Video Gaming’s Stealth Success: The Nintendo DS”
July 16th, 2008 at 9:36 am
what?! how dare u! pokemon is the shit! Seriously though, its a good rpg game and has an insane amount of depth if you want to really get into it.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Huh. Well, there you go. It’s funny, if you’re like me and all you know of Pokemon is the cartoon you have absolutely no idea whatsoever that the games are actually decent.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I’ve been a Pokemon (game) fan for years now. It’s a relatively easy RPG to get into for any age. It also appeals to my fanatical obsession with collecting things. “Gotta catch ‘em all!” I’ve since hooked two other adult friends on this. One of ‘em trades Pokemon with his 6 and 7-year-old.
The cartoons are crap of course. The games, however, are very well done and deceptively simple on the surface but very addictive. Even if you hate cute Japanese characters, you can’t deny the success. Used Game Boy Advance Pokemon carts are still selling for $25+ in my neighborhood. The Pokemon center in New York will occasionally hold events where they give out exclusive Pokemon and thousands of kids and adults will show up just to add it to their collection.
Try one yourself. Even if you don’t have a DS or GBA, you can probably find some of the older games online for an emulator. That’s how I got started. Of course, the Game Boy Advance versions and up are the best.