In the United States alone, more than 1 million Nintendo DS and DS Lite owners now have either Pokémon Diamond or Pokémon Pearl in their possession. Having been released just four days ago, reaching the million mark in five days makes Pokémon Diamond and Pearl the fastest selling Pokémon games since the introduction of the series nearly a decade ago. In addition, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl have sold 5 million copies in Japan since their release on September 28th of last year. Over 155 million Pokémon games have been sold worldwide since the series debuted.

Matthew’s one of those million owners of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl in the United States, and I’ll be joining the party in about a year or so when we should be expecting the usual third game. I wonder what the numbers are for the whole North America?

After adding the Wii and DS to the My Coke Rewards program on April 16, the program was sold out of Nintendo products by April 20th. Now, however, they’re both back on the listing as available rewards.

What makes this more amazing is the amount of points needed to redeem those two rewards. Apparently people are drinking a lot of Coke, as evident by the Wii/DS sellouts. The DS will cost you 3250 points, or 1084 bottles of Coke, and the Wii will cost you 6250 points, or 2084 bottles of Coke.

Would you drink 2084 bottles of Coke for a Wii? If I had to choose, I’m more of a Pepsi fan…but I know you Coke fans out there are pretty hardcore about it. 2084. Seem like something you’d do?

My Coke Rewards
via Joystiq

You’re all going to think it, so I’m just going to say it. Nintendo’s official numbers are (just barely) short of the expected 6 million Wii units sold in the year ending March 31. However, given the fact that stores are still having weekly “re-launches” for the system suggests that it’s not because people don’t want the system, and once Nintendo ups production of the Wii further, I don’t think they’ll have any trouble meeting future demand.

Official press release below:

NINTENDO POSTS RECORD YEAR ON STRONG NINTENDO DS SALES, BREAKTHROUGH RECEPTION FOR WII
April 26, 2007

Nintendo Co., Ltd., today reported final consolidated fiscal year revenues of 966.5 billion yen and operating profits of 226.0 billion yen for the year ending March 31, 2007, an increase of 90 percent and 150 percent, respectively, over the same period one year ago. Both numbers are record highs for the company.

The results are due largely to full-year sales of more than 23 million portable Nintendo DSâ„¢ systems globally, along with 123 million Nintendo DS games. Since introduction, the Nintendo DS has now eclipsed lifetime sales of 40 million systems.

In addition, in less than five months since introduction, the company sold 5.84 million of its new Wiiâ„¢ home video game systems globally, virtually every one snapped up immediately by consumers, along with nearly 29 million Wii games. Wii has taken a step toward becoming a cultural phenomenon, appealing widely to both avid and previously disinterested game-playing audiences.

For the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2007, Nintendo projects sales of 14 million Wii systems and 55 million games worldwide. The company projects sales of 22 million Nintendo DS hardware unit sales and 130 million software units sales. Nintendo forecasts consolidated sales increasing nearly 18 percent to 1.14 trillion yen, and operating profits growing nearly 20 percent to 270 billion yen.

All financial projections are based on an anticipated ratio of 115 yen to the U.S. dollar, and 150 yen to the euro. Using this estimate, recurring and net profits for the year are projected to be flat in anticipation of a foreign currency reevaluation loss.

For more information about Nintendo, please visit Nintendo.com.

Note: Forecasts announced by the company referred to above were prepared based on management’s assumptions with information available at this time and therefore involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Please note such risks and uncertainties may cause the actual results to be materially different from the forecasts.

Nibris wants to make a point that Sadness is still very real and in production. They expect to show the first real trailer for the elusive game sometime this year, according to the developer. Why the wait? Apparently their goal is to hold off showing the game until it’s at a point where audiences will be impressed with what they see. It seems like a good strategy, as they’ll need to make a good first impression to the many doubters out there as to even the game’s existence.

Nibris has no plans to release the game in 2007, unfortunately, and we’ll be seeing it in 2008 at the very earliest.

Cubed3

You’ve all seen the Chrome I-Case for the Wii, and the Black one likely looks like the original black Nintendo Revolution. Now we have pictures of the Crystal Blue I-Case for the Wii (with LED lights) coming soon from Total Console, and it’s a beauty.

I’ve never been so tempted to get a case mod for anything of mine… but it’s sooooo purty. Beauty comes at a price, though, with this case taking a $45 bite out of your wallet. As stated, the I-Case comes in Chrome, Crystal Blue, and Black. You can pre-order at the link below, and the casings (and their easy instructions) are expected to ship May 3rd from NYC.

TotalConsole
via WiiNintendo.net

Shonen Jump magazine (Japanese) recently published a page on the upcoming Dragon Quest IX game, coming from Square Enix to Japan later this year. The magazine reconfirms the game to have a lengthy single-player story mode, as well as the first ever four-player mode for the series. The scan also reassures fans of the series that DQIX will retain the usual turn-based battle system featured in Dragon Quest games, despite rumors of a real-time battle system.

The scan below also shows off the game’s impressive visual presentation as well as the layout of the battle menus. Oh, and you’ll be able to customize your characters, too.

GamesAreFun

A fun parody on the title of an old game. I laughed :P

The Librarianist

I can’t read German, but I can understand when Alone in the Dark is coming to both the Wii and Nintendo DS in the fourth quarter of 2007. I heard about development of a new Alone in the Dark game a while ago, but I don’t recall having heard about it for the Wii until now. I do remember making a big deal about it coming to the Game Boy Color a long time ago…

AreaGames

EA’s Executive VP of International Publishing, Gerhard Florin, spoke with GamesIndustry.biz about EA’s current projects and opinions on how the market’s turning out. Mentioned was how Nintendo’s strategy of expanding the market can let Nintendo achieve its goal while still allowing the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to still sell a successful amount of units - all of course allowing third parties to sell more games - and make everyone happy.

Yes, the rival consoles aren’t offering something the same, they’re offering something different - so the consumer all of a sudden gets a choice. You can go for the Wii, the fun, entertainment part, or more for the online part with the Xbox 360, or more for the high tech part with Sony.

You can read the full interview at the link below.

GamesIndustry.biz

I wish…

More cakes at eBaum’s World!