Sony questions whether DSi can expand Nintendo's user base

Sony's director of hardware marketing John Koller has offered his opinion on Nintendo's recently revealed DSi console, suggesting the handheld is likely to be just as successful as the DS Lite.

But Koller also said he was unsure if the new hardware will help Nintendo reach a wider demographic than the current DS user – suggesting only children are using the DS Lite.

"I can see the DSi being successful," he told Gizmodo. "The DS Lite was obviously very successful.

"Will DSi do well with [the DS's] demographic? It probably will. Will it be a product that expands their user base [beyond] under 12? I'm not sure," he said.

He added: "Nintendo has kind of a history of these [moderate] kinds of updates, and even with DS Lite, there was a lot of discussion, 'Is that enough?' And they seemed to do pretty well there."

While Sony has always targeted an older demographic with the PSP than Nintendo's DS, the suggestion that only children at buying and playing the DS system could be seen as off the mark when comparing sales figures.

Data from Japan last week revealed the DS has sold more than double the PSP in the region – 23,484,680 units in the its lifetime to date, compared to 10,157,757 for Sony's machine.

And in the UK, the DS has an installed base of 7.1 million units, compared to the PSPs 2.9 million units.