Nintendo announced this morning that the millionth DS has just been sold in Europe, mirroring the handheld console's excellent performance in Japan and the US recently. The news will perhaps come as some surprise to industry doom-mongers who felt consumers would be put off by the DS's comparatively weak graphics performance. On the contrary, by fully exploiting the unique dual display and touch-screen set-up, titles such as Yoshi Touch & Go, Wario Ware Touched and Super Mario 64 DS have delivered delightfully idiosyncratic and compelling experiences to a receptive audience.
Tech Digest asks if this reveals a mainstream market that now values gameplay innovation over visuals. Or perhaps it says more about Nintendo's grip on the handheld sector which is so different to the console environment. Maybe, despite the power of the PlayStation brand, consumers still helplessly associate gaming on the go with Nintendo.
Whatever, it'll be interesting to see what happens when PSP is released in Europe. Will Sony's machine with its stunning graphics, lifestyle aspirations and familiar PS2 brands just completely take over, or will European gamers, like their less conservative Japanese counterparts, remain charmed by the Nintendo DS quirkiness? Take a look at the latest Japanese charts and you'll find four DS titles in the all formats top ten and no PSP games. In fact you have to go back to June 5th for a single PSP entry. It is almost inconceivable that a similar picture will emerge here. Isn't it?
