Nintendo have confirmed that 500,000 units have been sold across North America.

Since being released in North America just a little over a week ago, sales for the Nintendo DS have gone through the roof!

This official figures were shown in the Seattle Times, just a day before the handheld is released in Japan.

This sure is sending out the right message in the industry that Nintendo's innovation is popular, Sony mightn't be as cocky now with their rivals storming the market.

By the end of March 2005, Nintendo expect to have sold five million DS', and that target is looking even more realistic now.

But it's not only the DS that is bringing in all the cash for Nintendo this previous week. Another 800,000 GBA SP units were sold, which in anyone's book, makes a successful week for the Big N.

Press release:

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 1, 2004 - Shoppers spent Thanksgiving week stuffing their shopping bags with Nintendo hardware, setting the stage for 2004 to be the year of the hand-held holidays. Shoppers snapped up more than 500,000 Nintendo DS� systems during Thanksgiving week, representing more than 90 percent of all units available in stores across the United States.

With Nintendo DS sales moving faster than anticipated, some locations have reported sellouts, and Nintendo predicts the initial North American supply will be depleted within days. As additional shipments are rushed to stores by this weekend to meet the demand, Nintendo expects to sell 1 million Nintendo DS units in North America alone by the end of 2004 � a mark that took Apple's iPod 19 months to achieve.

"Consumers have voted the Nintendo DS as the hot item this holiday, so if you see one, you'd better buy it," says Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "Nintendo owns the hand-held market, and once again we're the hit of the holiday season."

Nintendo's other hand-held system, Game Boy� Advance, also soared during the holiday weekend. Nintendo sold more than 800,000 Game Boy Advance and Game Boy� Advance SP units during the past week. The combined 1.3 million Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance units sold last week set a new one-week sales record for hand-held systems. And the Game Boy Advance line remains on track to be the best-selling hardware line of the year.

Nintendo GameCube� also posted impressive numbers. The special bundle of a Nintendo GameCube and a Mario Kart�: Double Dash!!� game has sold more than 250,000 units since its introduction in mid-November.

Nintendo DS is revolutionizing video games by providing players completely new ways to interact with their games. The sharp, angular, silver-and-black dual-screened system comes with a stylus and features a touch screen, voice control and wireless communication. Nintendo DS, available now at an MSRP of $149.99, represents a third, distinct product line for Nintendo, along with Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo GameCube. Nintendo DS comes packaged with both a free, embedded PictoChat� communication program, and a playable demo of Metroid� Prime Hunters with both single-player and multiplayer modes.