In respons to Nintendo of America's sales announcement last week, Nintendo of Europe today also released the figures for its market...

This Christmas was the biggest ever for the Nintendo GameCube and the stylish Game Boy Advance SP made an impressive Christmas debut, reinforcing its number one position in the handheld market.

The Nintendo GameCube has had its most successful Christmas to date, with sales having increased 88% across Europe compared to the same period last year. These fantastic results have taken total sales in Europe of Nintendo GameCube to nearly 3 million (lifetime to date cumulative sell-thru figure).

This festive momentum was further fuelled by an excellent software line-up with games such as Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, 1080� Avalanche and Mario Party 5 all launching pre-Christmas. Nintendo GameCube software sales were up 45% on the same period last year.

The Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP have also enjoyed a fantastic year, with sales for the full calendar year 2003 having increased 33% on the previous year.

Game Boy Advance software sales also increased significantly in the Christmas period and were up 104% on the previous year. Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire were the strongest software titles for Game Boy Advance over Christmas and the sales for these games has now reached 2.4 million in Europe.

Nintendo's success looks set to continue into 2004 as the incredible software line up highlights. With all time classic games such as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, James Bond 007 Everything or Nothing and Pokémon Colosseum coming to the Nintendo GameCube in 2004, gamers can expect another great year from Nintendo. The Game Boy Advance will also see some incredible games launching such as Metroid Zero Mission, Pokémon Fire Red & Pokémon Leaf Green (exact name to be confirmed) and Fire Emblem. All this and more are in store from the world's most legendary video game company in 2004.