November 28^th, 2005 (9:18am) - Nintendo has always led the way in innovation, ever since it first entered the handheld gaming arena over 25 years ago. As the end of 2005 approaches, not only do Nintendo continue to make the best selling handheld machines on the market, they are also expanding the gaming audience with total portable videogame machine sales increasing year on year.

This year saw the launch of an all-new console, the Nintendo DS, with over 2 million consumers across Europe already having purchased one. For the last three weeks, sales of Nintendo DS exceeded 100,000 units per week, and last week alone sales topped 120,000 across Europe.

Hit releases like Nintendogs are also having a massive impact on Nintendo’s hand-held popularity, reaching new gamers and creating an overnight phenomenon. Since its launch on October 7th in Europe, over 1 million copies of the game have been sold. Nintendogs has become like gold dust across Europe with stocks flying off shelves as soon as they arrive in store.

Mario Kart DS has now launched and is the first Nintendo game to offer online gaming through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. With the combination of Mario Kart fun and simple Wi-Fi play, sales of Nintendo DS are expected to accelerate into Christmas.