Nintendo 3DS blasts off with top sales and breaks Australian handheld record

Things are looking rather radiant for Nintendo, as the latest Nintendo 3DS console has broken records in Australia. This happened after 31,000 game freaks consumed the stores and latched onto the consoles with their digital paws, thus launching a week sales record in the country with 32,000 units sold in its debut. That’s a lot considering the population of Australia.

Nintendo 3DS - Cosmo Black

Nintendo 3DS - Aqua Blue

However, that is minor compared to the success in the US, as the latest gadget blasted off to the top of the US charts with 440,000 units sold during its first week. Released on March 27, the 3DS allows for glasses-free 3D play and sold more than 60,000 units per day for a full week of sales through April 2.

In a phone interview Fils-Aime said that Nintendo had a great 3DS launch, and portables overall for Nintendo had the best March in video game history. Although it sold 440,000, which is considered "nice for an unproven technology in the portable gaming console market", analysts predicted that the 3DS would sell between 500,000 to 600,000.

Nintendo is still on track for a new Web browser release and also Netflix streaming for many of their games before the end of the summer. Although the 3DS is being very well received, and Nintendo’s sales were boosted thanks to the 3DS and Nintendo’s “Pokemon Black” and “Pokemon White” dominating gaming sales with more than 2.5 million copies sold in March, the video game industry overall dropped 4% compared to sales during March 2010.

Starting with Japan’s 3DS launch February 26, the first 30 days of sales for the Nintendo 3DS ended up shifting an eye-popping 810,000 units worldwide. Now if only I could get my hands onto one. $249 should not be considered cheap. 

[Joystiq] [Video gaming pros]