The much-loved handheld reached a milestone today, with Nintendo reporting that it has now officially shipped more than 100 million units worldwide.
Let’s say you’re rich, and decided today was the day you wanted to buy a DS. You already have a DS, but, what the hell, why not buy another one, for your third bathroom. You might not just be buying any old DS – you could be buying the 100 millionth DS Nintendo shipped, which the company today confirmed has been out in the wilds of retail as of March 6.
100 million. That’s a lot of dual-screened Nintendog-playing machines. That’s enough millions to put Lil Wayne to shame. It’s quite a feat: only the GameBoy, the PlayStation 1 and the PlayStation 2 have ever shipped this volume of units.
“Consumers have shown their love for Nintendo DS – 100 million times over,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We are grateful that people of all ages continue to respond to our products, and we will continue to look for ways to please current gamers and create new ones.”
Nintendo boasts that the DS “helped redefine what a videogame could be,” and yeah, that’s just the company line, but 100 million units shipped has to be worth something, and, for the most part, it’s true. When the system was first unveiled, gamers were skeptical if a bit confused by it – two screens? Who needs two screens when you can have one gigantic one on a PSP, right? But the system’s focus on mass-market appeal and casual-oriented “non-games” like Brain Age and Nintendogs turned it into an outright phenomenon, and arguably paved the way for the hugely successful Wii.
Nintendo’s sure to ship another ten gajillion units later this year with the release of the DSi, which will launch in the West next month. Can the DS get any more ubiquitous?
