DSi sells 435,000 units in first US week

In an official response to the NPD's March 2009 sales numbers, Nintendo revealed that the Nintendo DSi handheld - released April 5, has sold 435,000 units in North America in its first week.

This figure surpasses initial sales of the handheld's previous iteration, the Nintendo DS Lite, which sold 226,300 in its first week on the market.

"These numbers demonstrate that the Nintendo DS brand remains strong, and that consumers continue to look for the best new experiences on their portable video game systems," said Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway.

In direct response to NPD's March data, Dunaway eagerly pointed out that sales of the DS Lite remained strong at 563,000, "even in advance of the April 5 launch of the new Nintendo DSi system."

"Nintendo systems accounted for 58.4 per cent of the video game hardware sold in March, more than all other systems combined," Dunaway continued. "Consumers continue to be attracted to the wide range of software available and the great value of Nintendo systems."

Dunaway also expressed that Nintendo remains a "key driver" in overall game industry revenues, stating that "Without Nintendo products, the industry would be down 14 percent for the year, according to the NPD Group."

As reported earlier, Nintendo's two platforms continued to top hardware charts in March, though sales of both the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS were down in comparison to the same period in 2008.