Nintendo DS sales in the UK top 10 million

Nintendo's DS handheld games console has become the best-selling console in UK history after passing the 10 million mark, research published yesterday by GfK Chart-Track suggests.

The device, which was introduced to replace Nintendo's Game Boy, first hit the UK high street in March 2005, with yesterday's sales figures showing that nearly one in six people in UK now own a DS. The latest version of the DS to hit the UK, the DSi, sold 8 million units in its first eight weeks, while the company says it has sold more than 100 million DS units across the whole world since 2005.

Nintendo's other flagship console, the Wii, is meanwhile the fastest-selling console in UK history, though sales have begun to flag in recent months as rival console manufacturers such as Sony and Microsoft have finally begun to catch up.

The company is hoping a number of pre-Christmas price cuts will boost sales once more. The Wii, for example, is now available for less than £150 at a number of shops on the high street.