Record-breaking week for Nintendo DS

It's not just the Wii which has been performing well recently - Nintendo's handheld has also been breaking some records of its own.

New figures released by the company show 515,000 DS units were sold across Europe last week. That's the highest number for any week in the handheld's history and, according to Nintendo, the most any console has ever sold in seven days.

In total, 8.5 million DS units have been sold in Europe since the console launched in March 2005, and that figure is set to get a further boost as the festive season gets underway.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at GAME's midnight opening for the launch of the Wii last week, the retailer's chief executive, Lisa Morgan, said, "What's so great about this Christmas is there's such a wide choice of things for consumers to choose from. The Nintendo DS, for example, is selling so well - the pink DS Lite is just flying out the doors the minute it hits the shelves."