Pokemon selling out...again

by: Sean Colleli - posted: 4/28/2007 9:07:00 PM

I may never understand how or why but the Pokemon cartridges are flying off shelves again. Diamond and Pearl, Nintendo's new bling bling flavors of the light RPG, feature wifi support, which is probably the reason for the high sales.  Even if they have to punch in that annoying friend code Pokemon maniacs have never been able to battle each other online, so it's a big deal for this new game.  With more than 5 million copies of Diamond or Pearl sold already, I think the DS's profitability has just been assured for the forseeable future.

 Nintendo News: Pokemon Hotter Than Ever

    One of the video game industry's most celebrated franchises is officially

hotter than ever.  Within just five days of availability, more than 1 million

copies of Pokemon(R) Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for the portable Nintendo

DS(TM) have sold in the United States since Sunday's launch; a faster rate

than any previous Pokemon games since the franchise's U.S. introduction,

almost a decade ago.  To date, more than 155 million copies of Pokemon games

have sold worldwide.

    Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl are poised to become two of the

top-selling games of 2007 in the United States.  More than one half million

people pre-ordered the games before launch.  Additionally, thousands of people

attended the kickoff launch event in New York, and demand for the games

continues to be off the charts.  These latest versions of Pokemon games were

introduced in Japan on Sept. 28, 2006, and have already been purchased by more

than 5 million video gamers there.

    The two games include a number of features that make them particularly

attractive to gamers, including:

    *  More than 100 new Pokemon.

    *  A 3-D look that makes Pokemon jump off the screen.

    *  Worldwide wireless battling and trading using Nintendo(R) Wi-Fi

       Connection.

    *  Voice chat functions that let players talk wirelessly with their

       friends.

    Later this year, these two titles will also help expand the Pokemon

universe for the first time to Wii(TM), Nintendo's new home video game system. 

Diamond and Pearl owners will be able to use their DS hardware units as

controllers for Pokemon Battle Revolution (launching June 25), the first

Pokemon game available for Wii.  Players also will be able to export

characters to the Wii game.

    For more information about Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, visit

www.Pokemon-Games.com