Nintendo reports 1 million DS sales in the UK

Nintendo UK has announced that sales of its DS handheld have surpassed one million in the UK, a significant milestone in less than twelve months since the device was launched.

According to the Japanese publisher, several major retailers in the UK are continuing to report that they are sold out of Nintendo DS units, and are awaiting new stock in the coming weeks. A similar situation is currently being reported in Japan, where rival Sony's PSP handheld outsold the DS in the last two weeks as a direct result of stock shortages.

Almost three and a half million units have been sold across Europe since the DS was launched in March 2005, with worldwide unit sales estimated at more than 13 million. Sales have been consistently bolstered by an innovate line-up of original software, including Nintendogs, which has sold over 1.6 million copies in Europe since its October launch, and Mario Kart DS which sold 800,000 copies in Europe following its November release.

Dwindling stocks in several territories have led some industry watchers to speculate on the publisher's intention to release a newly designed, more compact version of the console, although Nintendo of Europe has dismissed the suggestion of an imminent launch as "pure rumour and speculation."