Nintendo DS: The powerhouse of US video game industry

Despite the tremendous buzz surrounding the next-gen consoles, Nintendo’s DS still remains as the force behind the sales surge in the U.S. video game industry this year. According to the NPD Group of Port Washington, N.Y. the cha-ching figures can be traced to the little handheld that could.

Apparently, if the DS wasn’t around, the video game industry’s overall growth would just be nearly as flat as Debra Messing, as compared to last year.

“Nearly all of the growth comes from the portable DS — without it, the industry would report a mere 1.6 percent growth over the past nine months. DS hardware and software units posted a robust gain of 203 percent when compared to the same period in 2005.”

So far Nintendo DS U.S. sales had exceeded 6.2 million units, and this does not include sales of DS Lite consoles which moved 1.4 million units in just 16 weeks. The DS phenomenon is a global one, and Nintendo is expected to wallow in expected revenues from 20 million DS units and 82 million units of DS software shipments worldwide, and all thanks to the DS’s appeal that captivated baby boomers and seniors alike. No wonder the company is using the same tactic in pushing its upcoming Wii.

Nintendo has no plans of getting off the inertia express, either. This summer, the company successfully launched its Touch Generations brand that makes it easy for newbies to identify nontraditional and pick-up-and-play titles that’s right for them. Touch Generation titles include the mega-hits Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and three versions of Nintendogs. Also generating heat on the sales charts is the New Super Mario Bros.

Despite the tremendous buzz surrounding the next-gen consoles, Nintendo’s DS still remains as the force behind the sales surge in the U.S. video game industry this year. According to the NPD Group of Port Washington, N.Y. the cha-ching figures can be traced to the little handheld that could.

Apparently, if the DS wasn’t around, the video game industry’s overall growth would just be nearly as flat as Debra Messing, as compared to last year.

“Nearly all of the growth comes from the portable DS — without it, the industry would report a mere 1.6 percent growth over the past nine months. DS hardware and software units posted a robust gain of 203 percent when compared to the same period in 2005.”

So far Nintendo DS U.S. sales had exceeded 6.2 million units, and this does not include sales of DS Lite consoles which moved 1.4 million units in just 16 weeks. The DS phenomenon is a global one, and Nintendo is expected to wallow in expected revenues from 20 million DS units and 82 million units of DS software shipments worldwide, and all thanks to the DS’s appeal that captivated baby boomers and seniors alike. No wonder the company is using the same tactic in pushing its upcoming Wii.

Nintendo has no plans of getting off the inertia express, either. This summer, the company successfully launched its Touch Generations brand that makes it easy for newbies to identify nontraditional and pick-up-and-play titles that’s right for them. Touch Generation titles include the mega-hits Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and three versions of Nintendogs. Also generating heat on the sales charts is the New Super Mario Bros.