Major US retailer halts DS preorders as launch stock sells out
One of the largest videogame retail chains in the USA, GameStop, has halted its preorder campaign for the forthcoming Nintendo DS handheld, indicating that the chain has already sold out the launch allocation of the eagerly awaited console.
One of the largest videogame retail chains in the USA, GameStop, has halted its preorder campaign for the forthcoming Nintendo DS handheld, indicating that the chain has already sold out the launch allocation of the eagerly awaited console.
The DS arrives in North America on November 21st, and Nintendo is expected to ship a large number of units - around 300,000 - for day one, with the firm planning to ship four million units in total worldwide by the end of March 2005.
One of GameStop's biggest rival chains, EBGames, continues to take preorders for the console, but according to US website GameSpot, has also cautioned that it will halt its campaign when the day one limit is reached.
With a clearer picture now emerging of which titles will actually be on the shelves in North America when the console arrives, it appears that six games will be available on day one - Nintendo's Super Mario 64 DS, Sega's Feel The Magic XY/XX, Activision's Spider-Man 2, Ubisoft's Asphalt Urban GT and two from EA - Madden NFL 2005 and The Urbz: Sims in the City.
A number of additional games will arrive throughout December, although one of the most eagerly awaited titles on the system, Mario Kart DS, won't launch in the USA until January 10th, despite being part of the line-up for the Japanese launch of the system on December 2nd.