UK DS sales top 3 million

Gamers in the UK continue to snap up the Nintendo DS with a rabidity that puts Cujo to shame: the handheld has now sold more than three million units here.

That's according to Chart-Track, which monitors sales figures at a large percentage of UK retailers and then extrapolates the final figure. By their reckoning, the combined sales of DS and DS Lite up to 24th March 2007 top the big three oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.

And it happens to be the leading hardware format for the whole of 2006 and for 2007 so far, even if you include those 165,000 PlayStation 3s from earlier.

Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton points out that this is "a great testament to the strength of the DS hardware and software range" although puzzlingly he neglects to link its success to our 10/10 review of Slitherlink, despite the enormous coincidence of the DS having surged over the threshold just days after we posted it. Come on Dave, don't player-hate.

"With many more Touch! Generations games launching in 2007, Nintendo DS and Wii will continue to be the main driving forces behind the expansion of the videogame market this year," Yarnton concludes.

Nintendo DS first launched in the UK on 11th March 2005, and has since been succeeded by the smaller, brighter DS Lite, which arrived here last June. The latter details for just under GBP 100 and comes in colours including white, black, pink and Andrex.