DS gets Euro launch date

The Nintendo DS will hit UK and European stores March 11 at estimated prices of 99 pounds ($186.91) and 149.99 euros ($195.59), respectively, officials said during a press conference Thursday in Paris. The dual-screen handheld made its debut in America on November 21 and in Japan on December 2. Since then, more than 2.8 million units have been sold.

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, said that when the DS comes to Europe, 15 first- and third-party games will already be available. Among them are Super Mario 64 DS, WarioWare Touched!, Pokémon Dash, Polarium (known in Japan as On-Line Puzzle), Rayman DS, Project Rub (known as Feel the Magic: XY/XX in the US), The Urbz: Sims in the City, and Spider-Man 2. UK and European DS units will come with a demo version of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, as in the US and Australia. Games will sell at prices of 29.99 euros ($39.10) to 39.99 euros ($52.14). About 120 new DS games are anticipated for development and release throughout 2005.

"Europe is an extremely important market for Nintendo, and we are pleased to be able to launch the console in Europe so soon after the American and Japanese launches," Iwata said. "We know that Nintendo DS will change the way [people] play video games."

There was no word on how many units were expected to ship to Europe. For more on the DS, have a peek at our Nintendo DS 101.