Nintendo Sold 600,000 DSi Handheld in Europe, US at Launch

Sales of Nintendo's DSi handheld device reached around 300,000 units in both Europe and the U.S. during its first two days on sale last week, the company's president said Thursday.

The product went on sale in Australia on April 2, Europe on April 3 and the North America on April 5.

"These early launch results supplant the launch sales of the previous versions of the Nintendo DS," said Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo. "They show us that the DSi has received a warm welcome around the world."

The DSi is an update to the popular DS Lite handheld that's been on sale for a couple of years. It's been slimmed down with the removal of a slot for GameBoy Advance cartridges, the two screens are slightly larger, two digital cameras have been added and there's a music player function.

Nintendo launched the DSi, the third refresh to the DS product line, as sales of the DS Lite began to drop in Japan. It's succeeded in turning around falling sales and has already sold more than 2 million in its first five months on sale in Japan.