Without a doubt, Nintendo is one of those companies that have radically changed the world of gaming, the Japanese firm releasing over the years some of the most popular gaming systems, from the NES to the Wii. Moreover, Nintendo also rolled-out quite a few handheld gaming consoles, the latest in the series being the DS.

And that's exactly the subject of the following announcement by Nintendo, as the company has let the world know that it has shipped its 100 millionth DS system, as of March 6, 2009. Of course, nobody knows exactly what part of the world this system has been shipped to, or who has actually purchased it (now THAT would have been really exciting).

Such an announcement could not have gone without some official wording from one of Nintendo's most prominent figures, none other than ol' Reg (Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime), who stated that “Consumers have shown their love for Nintendo DS – 100 million times over. We are grateful that people of all ages continue to respond to our products, and we will continue to look for ways to please current gamers and create new ones.”

And now, for a short history lesson regarding the DS systems. The first DS was launched in the second half of 2004 in US and Japan (early 2005 in Europe), and retailed for somewhere around 150 US dollars at the time. It was followed by the slimmed-down DS Lite, which hit the shelves two years later, in 2006 (on all three markets mentioned above) and sold for somewhere around 130 US dollars. Finally, the latest addition to the series is the DSi model, which was launched back in November in Japan, with Europe and the US scheduled to follow in early April.

At the rate things are going right now, it's very likely that the DS platform will live on for at least a couple of years, with a few new DS incarnations probably being scheduled to follow.


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