Awesome, very good. I was somewhat concerned about the lack of response to DS preorders, so this is reassuring.

smack to the face of the people polled in the japanese survey who said they expect the psp to sell more than the ds in the same amount of time, but the end of the year.

PSP production is weak. I hear that they'll only ship about half a million in japan this year. Not saying the demand isn't there, the product just isn't.

ooh! Double the preorders Ninty expected. Thats nice to hear! Now if they sell like Halo 2 over in north america...$$$ & PSP=done??

Impressive.......

To say the least.

To be honest, I believe that depends on whether people continue to buy the GBA. If they don't, then Nintendo may as well be having 2 pillars as it does now...

(quote)Impressive....... To say the least.

Your damn right thats impressive. But holy crap, 2 million?? o.O Maybe what microsoft claimed about Nintendo having the upper hand isnt far off from the truth.

i hope the ds wipes the floor with the psp. so far so good.

Hmm, good point. The GBA could die because of the DS. But I suspect if a game "can be done" on the GBA, the publisher will lean towards the GBA for the huge market (GBA U DS). So I doubt it will happen immediately....I'd rather see the GBA phased out than the DS.

Wow if Nintendo can manage to meet demand they will start out with a 3 million to 500,000 lead over PSP. Thats a significant userbase advantage that would ensure they maintain the early 3rd party support lead. Of course I seriously think that they need more than a 1 million units in the US. I think Nintendo will easily exceed there 4 million units sold projection for the fiscal year. If they can meet demand they may be able to ship and sell 6 million plus.

Darc Requiem

I believe that it's quite possible that the GBA could coexist with the DS. The PSone/PS2 relationship certainly proved that there's a market for a budget console.

some of you are in awe of the 2million pre-orders in Japan... but what about the pre-order numbers here in the US... i dont know if you can compare interest from japanese players with american players...

What's so awe about 2 million? If this was a game sure. But most people just figure it's the next gameboy.
Halo = around 3.5 to 4 million sold worldwide; Halo 2 = 1.5 million pre-orders
Game Boy - around 150 million sold worldwide; DS = 2 million so far in Japan. And most of the public doesn't really know much about the DS anyway. I'm guess once it is out for a while in the US at least it will just sell like crazy. The average dude is going to throw his GBASP in his bed and run out and buy one of "those new ones that go online and and you can touch it and stuff."

I was thinking the same thing Eric. Japan is just different... Yamauchi also was kind of saying this product was designed for Japan. Not to say there won't be a demand in the US, but there is not a huge desire to jump on to the touch screen bandwagon in the US at least not without seeing them in action. Therefore until there is lots of DS exposure, maybe lots of kiosks (i'm not seeing them where I live), I don't predict overwhelming DS preorders in America.

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Originally posted by: odifiend
I was thinking the same thing Eric. Japan is just different... Yamauchi also was kind of saying this product was designed for Japan. Not to say there won't be a demand in the US, but there is not a huge desire to jump on to the touch screen bandwagon in the US at least not without seeing them in action. Therefore until there is lots of DS exposure, maybe lots of kiosks (i'm not seeing them where I live), I don't predict overwhelming DS preorders in America.

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But that could be a result of Nintendo's own underestimation of the DS.

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Originally posted by: Gamefreak
What's so awe about 2 million? If this was a game sure. But most people just figure it's the next gameboy.
Halo = around 3.5 to 4 million sold worldwide; Halo 2 = 1.5 million pre-orders
Game Boy - around 150 million sold worldwide; DS = 2 million so far in Japan. And most of the public doesn't really know much about the DS anyway. I'm guess once it is out for a while in the US at least it will just sell like crazy. The average dude is going to throw his GBASP in his bed and run out and buy one of "those new ones that go online and and you can touch it and stuff."

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WHOOOO HOOOO! I own a hundred shared of Ninty....it just went from 14.50 to 14.90 in no time flat!! And I bought it at 14.00 (God bless you, Ameritrade!) !

GO NINTY!! DADDY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!!

Go Ninty. "Daddy needs a new adjustable socket wrench set." - Anybody who can tell me where that is from, you get a gold star.

2 million pre orders rocks. When comparing to the 150 million Gameboys, that is hardly fair, because that is over a 15 year period, with multiple versions, with mulitple countries. 2 million pre orders is a very good comparison to those nubmers actually.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised by the numbers, but also encouraged. It feels good to know that Nintendo doesn't plan on giving up the handheld market, and will make necessary steps not to. I wonder how long this momentum will keep up though. If it's anything like the gameboy has/had then there should be no problem in sight.

I wonder what the GBA2 will be like.

Sorry, just with all this talk of Nintendo not giving up the handheld market, and comparing DS preorders to GBA sales, it's hard to forget that there will be a GBA2. I wonder how that will fair? I mean, people WILL consider the DS the successor to the gameboy throne.....will they buy a GBA2? Will the next gameboy top the DS, or will it basically be Nintendo's PSP?

That depends on the success of the DS, most likely...If it does well(like it looks so far) there will be no need to worry about the GBA2 for a loooong time...

Another question that we won't know for awhile: if/once the DS becomes successful and after its run its course, will the Gameboy name be discontinued? I'm surprised they didn't tack it on to the DS

if/once the DS becomes successful and after its run its course, will the Gameboy name be discontinued?

No, I'm pretty sure that's the whole point of this "third pillar" thing. The GBA2 is most likely going to be GC/PS2 quality graphics in a normal 1-screen handheld.

I expect the GBA2 will be slightly improved Xbox graphics, really. By the time they release it that should be manageable.

I think at some point there won't be Nintendo portables at all. Eventually it will be possible to just make one system that is powerful enough to be a home console and small enough to be a portable. You would be able to hook it up to a TV and hook up extra controllers at home and then while on the go you would be limited to wireless multiplayer. So at that point the Gameboy name would probably disappear. Of course that will be a long time from now when games truly reach a point where upping the specs won't make a notable difference.

Nintendo really thinks the DS and GBA will co-exist and the DS is the third pillar. It's not going to be accepted as such and the GBA will be dead by this time next year. But they truly think this is something else so I imagine that someday they'll release a new Gameboy.

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It's not going to be accepted as such and the GBA will be dead by this time next year.

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but I suspect the GBA will linger longer than even the original PS is.

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