Europe sees the Lite as Nintendo's new DS arrives

Nintendo's DS Lite has launched across Europe this morning, with the redesigned console going on sale in two colours - black and white - supported by an advertising campaign focusing on the key software for the platform.

The DS Lite follows on the heels of 4.5 million sales of the original DS platform in this territory, and retails at around GBP 100 - about ten pounds more expensive than the original hardware.

Although some retailers are reported to have sold units of the DS Lite yesterday, by and large Nintendo's street date for the console held firm - with retailers in London yesterday uniformly refusing to sell units to customers until this morning, when the GAME store in Oxford Street held an early morning launch event.

Nintendo itself is supporting the launch of the console with a GBP 2.5 million marketing campaign in the UK, focusing on the key software titles for the platform rather than on the hardware itself.

Campaigns, including significant amounts of television advertising, for Nintendogs Dalmation, Brain Training and New Super Mario Bros, all feature the games being played on the new DS Lite hardware.

The new system launched in Japan earlier this year and has already sold well over two million units in that market, with the more recent US launch seeing over 136,500 units being sold across the region in just two days.