Nintendo DS Lite Hits US Retail At $129.99

Soon after Nintendo announced its plans to ramp up production of the DS Lite a few days ago, their redesigned console finally reached US shores (and retail stores). Some reports claim that the street date was broken by several retailers on Saturday, June 10th - and even earlier than that, according to others - however the first Nintendo DS Lite was officially sold on Sunday during a midnight opening event at the Nintendo World store in the Rockefeller Centre, in New York. There, the first hundred purchasers of the DS Lite were also treated to a free copy of Brain Age.

Another proof of Nintendo's finite generosity is that, unlike the three colour variants available in Japan (Chrystal White, Ice Blue and Enamel Navy), only the white version is currently available for purchase in North America. Of course, this didn't stop people from buying Nintendo's redesigned DS, but nor were there any spectacular sales reported in the first day of its US launch. Demand is expected to remain steady, as the DS continues its silent retail war against Sony's PSP, which is still a bit ahead in terms of sales - once again, unlinke Japan, where the DS has already outsold the PSP by a massive margin.

Later on this month, on June 23rd, Nintendo will also bring the DS Lite to Europe, where two of the three color variants (white and dark) should be available from head start. As for the price, it's expected to be set at 149.99 Euro, sadly enough. Oh well, there's always imports...

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)