http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=175988

Japan rushes for TV on DS
Tuesday 20-Nov-2007 12:18 PM

Nintendo overrun with orders for its new DS TV adaptor, out in Japan on Friday

Nintendo says it's shocked at the overwhelming number of orders it has had for its new DS TV Tuner peripheral, due out in Japan this Friday.

Despite Nintendo having been pretty quiet about its DS TV tuner peripheral (hence you may never have heard of it), it is reported that the company has actually received "too many" orders for the peripheral since pre-orders opened on the official site on November 8.

The new tuner allows the DS to pick up Japan's 1seg TV broadcast service (no, we don't have that here), and has completely sold out way ahead of its release on November 23 for 6,800 yen (a touch under £30).

"As it was television (not game), we intended to begin accepting the orders quietly without prior announcement," a Nintendo representative told Japanese site J-Cast. "We had not expected so many accesses would be made." We believe by "accesses" they mean "orders" - rubbish internet translators.

A standard analogue TV tuner was released in UK for GBA, but no TV tuner device has been announced for DS over here.

Ok, I now have absolutely no idea of what's going on in Japan. Then again, maybe selling out such an obscure accesory means it's only sold some few tens of thousands? The article makes it sound like millions have been sold already, but let's keep it in perspective.

Pre-order was over 4 millions.
Why would they watch TV on DS anyways? I would've picked PSP.

Simple, they already have a DS for games and Cooking Navigator.

stuff like this is popular, tvs are literally being replaced. It's very difficult to find a new computer in Japan that doesn't have a TV tuner in it. Obviously one of the reasons is space, but also convenience.

if that would have been out in germany during world cup tme last year, 50% of germans would now own a nintendo DS.

Ninty should have worked out a way to create a game that uses the tuner - and bundled it. Imagine the sales potential... :)

There's that 4 million number again.

Halo 3 sold 3 point something million in its first week & I said that Wii Fit would beat that number with all launches included NOT TO MENTION in Japan alone.

I'm starting to think this lull we seem to be seeing in Japan is because of anticipation for Wii Fit.

Japan goes crazy over a TV Tuner for the DS. Watch what they do when Wii Fit comes out.

John Lucas

 that was quite a stretch there.