Pokemon sells half a million in Europe

Nintendo has announced the vaguest sales figures it could possibly muster for the launch of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire in Europe, revealing only that the first GBA instalments of the massively popular franchise have sold over 500,000 units between them in their first weekend on sale.

We're not sure how many units that represents in the UK (although the titles took the number one and two spot respectively in the charts here this week, the first time that a GBA title has troubled the top spot since the launch of the console two years ago), as the figure is for the whole of Europe and no break down is offered.

We do know, however, that hardware sales of the GBA and GBA SP were boosted by some 50 per cent during the launch weekend, and Nintendo also cheerfully reports that some retailers are selling out of the games already and reordering additional stock - although there's no indication as to how much of the first shipment has sold through now, or whether consumers are likely to face difficulties in getting hold of the game.