Chart Track has confirmed today that two million DS consoles have been sold in the UK. The retail research company also announced that Nintendo is the 2006 UK market leader in video games hardware, "surpassing all competition in both the home console and handheld console markets". Meanwhile, SCEA propaganda minister David Karraker has revealed that US PSP sales have shot up by 280 percent since the launch of PS3.
No wonder a lot of third-party publishers, currently scratching their heads trying to figure out PS3, are turning to the handhelds to tide them over. That's according to GDC chief Jamil Moledina who claims that DS and PSP have become the focus of many a 2006-2007 development schedule.
It's an interesting development. Usually, handhelds are an afterthought on the multiplatform roll-out, with most conversions outsourced to obscure studios in sparsely inhabited Eastern European villages. Now apparently, they're the target machines, with next-gen developments having to wait their turn.
