Nintendo DS broke records of sorts by reaching the 5 million mark in a mere 13 months after launch. This is a record even going by Japan's standards. Game Boy Advance (Nintendo again) held the record earlier by taking 14 months. Surprisingly Playstation 2 which is supposed to be extremely popular took 17 months. Selling 5 million units in less than 14 months means DS is the fastest among any game machines ever launched in Japan to hit that level," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference. To achieve this rapid growth, we were required not only to go after frequent game players, but to reel back people who had left games and to make video games enjoyable for those who had not played games at all."

Besides advanced video games with sophisticated graphics and realistic actions, Nintendo focuses on games for women, adults and seniors -- traditionally non-core segments for game makers -- in a bid to expand the overall game-playing population. Domestic shipments of one such game, nintendogs, which lets players interact with virtual pets in the console, have so far totaled 1.08 million units, clearing the 1 million benchmark for a hit game.