Nintendo Japan underestimates TV demand

An influx of registrations for Nintendo's DS TV service crashed the web site handling the applications, it's reported in Japan.

According to a report by Japanese site J-Cast News the registration portal struggled to cope with demand just two hours after going live, despite Nintendo's plans for a soft launch and not publicising the event.

According to a statement made by Nintendo Japan public relations the company had intended to begin taking orders "quietly, without prior announcement," and hadn't expected "so many accesses would be made."

While the site has now been live for several weeks, since it launched on November 8, the adaptor that makes receiving TV signals on the DS platform possible only went on sale on November 20, priced JPY 6800 (GBP 30, USD 63).

According to a survey in magazine Famitsu over 18 per cent of respondents claimed that they intended to purchase the DS TV tuner. The console has sold over 20 million units in Japan to date, currently the only territory that the DS TV service is available in.

There are currently no plans to launch the service in the UK, a company representative told GamesIndustry.biz.