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Reader Comments (22)

Posted: Nov 5th 2008 7:35PM (Unverified) said

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ZOMGWTFBBQ?!?!?! A Nintendo item selling out IN JAPAN?!?! I never thought I'd see the day
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 9:36PM LaughingTarget said

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Tis a shame your self-awareness didn't kick in back in 2002 when the GameCube was having a hard time.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 7:40PM (Unverified) said

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*BREAKING NEWS*

SUN TO RISE IN THE EAST, SET IN THE WEST.
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 11:29PM (Unverified) said

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*IN OTHER NEWS*

Gamers once again act like they knew it all along, distancing from their previous assumptions that so and so device was going to be the next Virtual Boy/Game Boy Micro...

Also, "analysts don't know what they're talking about" - Gamers.

Might not apply to you, but you know what I'm talking about.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 7:49PM WiiFTW said

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Wikipedia says that Nintendo has sold 23.71 million DS and DS Lite units as of September 30 in Japan alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS

It'd be safe to say it's sold about 24 million units in Japan.

According to the CIA World Factbook there are approximately 127 million people living in Japan.

24/127=18% population possibly owning DSes WTF

Of course, this excludes a single person with multiple DSes.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 7:58PM Ignatius said

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It's probably less than 5%, considering how many colors, styles and special editions come out in Japan, the people that buy them must have like 5 by now.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 7:58PM (Unverified) said

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well, like you said, you can definitely chalk up a lot of that percentage to people buying multiple models.

The thing is, portable gaming is a lot more socially acceptable in Japan and Hong Kong (I mention those two because those are the only two countries I'm confident in mentioning). A lot of people but portable gaming devices for the explicit reason of playing on the train.

Portable electronics are also seen as fashion devices, and the DS is at a price point that makes the idea of switching up models somewhat easy to justify.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 8:00PM (Unverified) said

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*buy portable gaming devices
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 9:00PM (Unverified) said

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Hong Kong isn't a country.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 11:25PM JRMG said

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It's true. Here in Japan, most commuters do two things while on the train:
1) watch TV on their cellphones
2) use their DS

also #3) get squished around by the mass of people trying to get on the train, but that's beside the point.
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 1:38AM (Unverified) said

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It will always be a country in my heart!

yea, thats me getting out of being wrong
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 7:56PM Railgun said

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So when the DSi comes out in NA, would I be able to put my R4 in it and expect it to work or no?
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 8:13PM (Unverified) said

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Nope. None of the Slot 1's do so far. There is a TIFF exploit on the DSi though.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 9:01PM (Unverified) said

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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 9:15PM Mabui said

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I wonder what percent of the continued sales will relate to importing.
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 9:59PM Mr Khan said

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Considering its sell-through, combined with the strong yen, i could imagine it would be tough for aspiring importer

But i haven't waded into PlayAsia in a while
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 12:35AM Virus one said

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I looked on Play-Asia, they have the DSi listed for $299.00
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Posted: Nov 5th 2008 9:42PM (Unverified) said

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Is the title a Tom Waits reference?
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 4:50PM (Unverified) said

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*waits*
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 2:59AM Saria the Cat said

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I don't see as many people playing DS during train commutes as I expected. Probably 1 out of every 15-20 people. And I have definitely not seen anyone playing a DSi. I do however see DSi commercials all the time on the TV in the main train line in Tokyo, Rapid Chuo Sen.
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 3:08AM (Unverified) said

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Gee if you put only 200.000 items up for sale in a country where the previous model sold over 20 million pieces its pretty easy to sell out!
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Posted: Nov 6th 2008 6:36AM BurntMeatloaf said

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I guess "evolutionary" still sells perfectly well, after all.
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