Japan retailers report big DS preorders

TOKYO--The Nintendo DS is the third best-selling video game console for the week of October 11-17, Nikkei BP Consulting reported today. Of course, the machine isn't out until December 2 in Japan, but electronics retailers are including preorders for the system in their sales calculations.

First place in this week's chart went to Nintendo's other handheld, the Game Boy Advance SP. The standard PlayStation 2 hardware was ranked at second place, and fourth place was taken by preorders for the upcoming redesigned version of the PS2. The Nintendo GameCube came in at fifth place.