Nintendo DSi 'probably' hitting US in 2009

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in a newspaper interview that the DSi would launch overseas 'probably' in 2009.

Nintendo DSi 'probably' hitting US in 2009

DSi not coming stateside for a while

TOKYO -- With less than a month to go until Nintendo's new DSi hits the shelves of Japanese retailers, gamers in the rest of the world are wondering when they might see the revised DS. Nintendo hasn't given a clear answer to that question but indications are that it won't be going on sale outside of Japan anytime soon.

When Nintendo launched the DSi in Tokyo on Thursday, company President Satoru Iwata told reporters that Nintendo plans to launch the DSi overseas in 2009, but didn't elaborate further on which markets that plan applies to or when during the year the start of sales would come.

Later in the day at a U.S. event, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said the device would appear in Europe in the "Spring" but not in the U.S. until "well into 2009."

And in an interview with the Nikkei business daily in Japan, Iwata said plans were to launch the DSi overseas "probably" in 2009.

The company can afford this less-than-aggressive approach to overseas launch plans because the current DS model is still selling well outside Japan, while sales at home have been flagging.

In the April to June quarter sales of the DS in Japan totalled 580,000 units, according to Nintendo's figures. That's sharply down on the 2 million units the company sold in the same period a year earlier. In contrast overseas sales in the same period totalled 6.36 million units, up from 4.89 million units in the year-earlier period.

To date, 23 million DS devices have been sold in Japan, roughly 1 for every 5th person in the country. Iwata hopes the new DSi will reinvigorate sales and said Thursday he wants everyone in Japan to own one.

Comments [18]

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tg211

ill wait for a new nintedo hanheld platform have 2 ds's already.OH and a BIG thanx to gamepro for my LBP beta code. So far Artsaber and I are the only gamepro regulars i know of that got one. ARE the anymore regulars that got one?

Toneman

VivaLeResistance wrote:

I'll wait for the DS 2.

But then when it gets released it'll be overpriced, and when the price finally goes down a new model will be coming soon... and then you'll wait some more... and then some more. Just say it... you'll never get a Nintendo handheld!

tg211

Toneman wrote:

VivaLeResistance wrote:

I'll wait for the DS 2.

But then when it gets released it'll be overpriced, and when the price finally goes down a new model will be coming soon... and then you'll wait some more... and then some more. Just say it... you'll never get a Nintendo handheld!

Damn toneman you sure have gotten negative lately. Not like you at all.

Toneman

@ tg211 : I'm just teasing Viva... it's all in good fun. Not impressed with Nitendo's move with the DSi... and not impressed with Punch Out! screenshots... but other than that it's all good!

ESRB_Hater

Pretendo is screwed......Sega is launching its own hand-held. Its the Sega "Vision." It will play games, movies, music, have a built in camera, act as a voice recorder and read ebooks. It is to be competitive with the PSP.
Because Pretendo wasn't innovative enough, yet another competitor has entered the ring, and may even have a better, more innovative product too. Sega is no stranger to the console wars, and even derided Pretendo as being for kids. Remember the old ads with blast processing......cuz Nintendon't.

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