DS sales hit 40 million worldwide

[Steve 3.2]

A great discussion going on...

I think the DS family will eventually sell 100M. It may reach that goal with the current Lite unit and certainly will with whatever successor comes along. (I'm betting the 'DS2' will have larger, higher res screens (about PSP size), be backwards compatible with the DS but maybe not the GBA, improved battery life, faster wireless networking, and maybe allow the downloading of games directly to the unit. Expect it in 2009.)

The Game Boy is dead. It may come back in the future, but Nintendo will consolidate their efforts on the DS and Wii. The whole 'third pillar' thing was just in case the DS failed. If the DS didn't do well, Nintendo would have brought out a new Game Boy in late 2005 or early 2006. But with the amazing sales of the DS, there's no way they're going to split that up with a third system.

While the redesign has helped sale, I'm sure the DS would still be leading without it. I'm still shocked at how much better the Lite looks and feels compared to the 'Phat'. While a few may prefer the old one, all the improvements (size, battery life, screens, etc.) really hit the design nail on the head. I wonder how well the GameCube would have done if it looked more like a Mac Cube and less like a lunch box...