According to industry analyst Anita Frazier of NPD the DS is pretty much set to surpass the PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales some time "by early October or November." This would make the DS the best selling system ever in the history of all things that have ever happened pertaining to the selling of systems.
While the PS2 actually still sells surprisingly well for a system as old as it is and the DS's sales have declined in the past month, the dual-screened handheld should still reach this mark pretty easily seeing as it is often the top selling console on a month to month basis. In fact, according to Nintendo's numbers it should have around 129 million units sold already and that puts it pretty close to the PS2's current number of somewhere over 140 million units.
We can all gripe about Nintendo's approach to gaming and opening the market to new/casual gamers, but in 5 1/2 years the DS is going to reach a number it took the most popular gaming machine ever a decade to reach. I don't care who what system you like the best, that accomplishment deserves some respect.
Nintendo DS to Become Best Selling Console of All Time [1Up, via Edge]
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
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Contest:
1:00 AM on 05.17.2010 | 
But yeah, I think the DS deserves it. Assloads of great games and it certainly got more play time than my PS2.
PS2/PS2slim/ (psx for the five people who bought it)
Ds/Dslite/dsi/dsiXl (including hundreds of collector special editions)
it just makes me think, 120 million people had one ps2 among upto a family, whereas one person may have upto 3 ds/dsis. overall the amount of people affected by the ps2 is significantly higher i would wager.
none of this is factual of course, so call me out as much as you would like. i just think the target market of each console is significantly bigger to say one console did better than the other.
I don't know if it was just my town or what, but most people I've known have owned at least 2 PS2s. Everyone but me seemed to go through heaps of console failures.
Still, its damn impressive sales figures nonetheless.
Disagree. I've know many people who bought more than one PS2. Failures, and new models are the reason it sold more, same as DS. Not really any difference when it comes to that.
People will bitch and moan say that a home console is more expensive harder to sell and the DS has so many version etc but the DS will outsell the PS2 and become the best selling system of all time. It's insane give em credit and its an amazing system my favorite. Congrats Nintendo
Also, the nature of home consoles in an average family dictates that there would only be one of said console in the house, whereas everyone would have a portable. Taking these two factors into account, a single, semi-affluent family with 3 children would have marked up 2 PS2's, 6 if the parents bought one for each child, while the same family would have already purchased 12 DS's, with another 3 purchases incoming.
I'm not hating on Nintendo in the slightest, since in the phrase "game company", the company part is more important than the game part, and their overarching goal is to make money. But it's really not fair to claim that the DS is more popular than the PS2 simply because it had more versions
To illustrate this, I direct your attention to Street Fighter 2. There were, if I recall correctly, at least 7 different versions of SF2 (SF2: World Warrior, SF2': Championship Edition, SF2': Hyper Fighting, Super SF2, Super SF2 Turbo, Hyper SF2, Super SF2 Turbo HD Remix). Despite the fact that each version of the game is merely a slightly updated version of the last (much like the DS), they don't share the same sales figures. Capcom doesn't claim that SF2 sold 15+ million copies, they say that SNES SF2 sold 6.3 million, SNES SF2' sold 4.1 million, etc.
I'm not a real big fan of people laying claim to records with asterisks attached to it (much like "Wii Sports" being the highest selling game ever, despite the fact that it was pre-packaged in with every Wii console sold), and while the number of DS units sold is still impressive, I implore you, Nintendo, break this record the right way. Make a gaming system so mind-blowingly awesome that you sell 140 million+ in one go.
I'm sure not the only one.
I disagree
Not quite a level playing field as there were only 2 PS2's, and they were pretty similar, as in you didn't really need a slim version, because you didn't put it in your pocket.
Still, this capitalist world works on sales figures.
Global truth is not measured by mass appeal.
cheers for making the point a hell of a lot better than i could in my sleepless state.
Yeah, the PS2 totally had just amazing hardcore games and no cheap casual cash-ins at all...
PS2 = TRUE HARDCORE!!1
The 3DS is NOT just another iteration of the DS, and is in fact the next generation handheld of Nintendo. Just got a bit annoyed people still think it's another updated DS.
At this point in time, that may be the case. But, for this argument, the difference between the 3DS and all the DS series, gameplay-wise, doesn't matter. If Nintendo lumps in the sales of 3DS units with the rest of the DS figures, then for this point, the 3DS is considered a DS, different as it may be.
Actually, in my opinion, it would be even worse. If the 3DS WAS simply an updated version of the DS series, then I would be fine with Nintendo adding it to those sales figures and begrudgingly applaud their ability to produce the highest selling gaming platform ever due to the shift of the target audience coupled with shrewd marketing tactics. However, if it is as you say and the 3DS is completely different, but Nintendo still throws in the sales of the 3DS towards the "let's-break-a-record" race that the DS started, I will have no choice but to call Nintendo a group of damn liars. Because, going with Fossegrim's fruit metaphor, I can't sell 100 apples and 45 pineapples, but still claim 145 apples sold, because the two are fundamentally different
Sort of how the Xbox was a better built machine than PS2, yet PS2 sales are ridiculously high.
DS is lesser made quality compared to the PSP, yet kills it in sales. (Though I think that one is more because DS is both cheaper in price and more kid friendly in the thrashing it can take and still work in handheld comparisons.)
Hell, even now, the Wii is world's away in sales from PS3. But even the break prone 360 clings just barely ahead of PS3, a much higher quality machine.
The lesson here, from a business standpoint, would seem to be to make the cheaper model, as well as be sure to rehash old franchises over and over, if you want the most sales.
Nintendo can be patted on the back from a pure business money making perspective. I still spit on them from a quality and artistic standpoint.
Good job on suckering the unknowing public and latest trend sheep, Nintendo! You make the creators of Rubik's Cube, Hula hoops and the pet rock quite proud of how far you succeeded at the art of the gimmik year after year.
Selling the most doesn't make you the best product. Just the richest.
ds: 930 games
ps2: 4512 games
You can slap a DVD playe in my Civic and it's still a Civic. You can slap a camera on my DS and it's still a DS.
UNBIASED FTW
So yeah, the DS, it prints money because it's a genuinely good piece of hardware, and it definitely deserves to sell 140 million+ units.
You can't compare the PS2 failure rate and the DS failure rate equally. The PS2's was probably the highest of all major game hardware (Meaning I don't care if the WonderSwan Colour had a 75% failure rate) before the 360 came along and the DS is one of the most reliable this generation, if not the most reliable (the closest the DS came to a recurring hardware issue was a hinge crack that did nothing). I don't know whether the new iterations result in more new sales or repeat sales, but either way, the advantage is less relevant given that the DS has taken a 4 year handicap upon itself.
Its just oranges and lemons. regardless of failure rates, which i didnt mention in the first place, the ds is a one person console.
the ps2 is not. and that is why, in general even though in figures it has sold more, it is not more sucessful.
im not a fanboy. im not shitting over either console, i just dont think their legacies are comparable.
EDIT BUTTON
@courtney
you're forgetting about the much higher fail rate of the ps2. many (everyone i knew with one at least), ended up having to replace their ps2's due to disc read failures, etc. you'd be remiss to claim the ds to have the same sort of failure rate.
Im forgetting about it because i dont think it has that much of an impact, i myself went through more than one, but the average family would have more than 2 ds rendering the point moot.
if the 360 was the highest selling console this gen, you'd have to make mention of rrod, right? the same thing is true of the ps2.
even if your taking into account half of them failling, which is a staunch over estimate each house hold has abou 1.5 ps2s to 2.4 dss(averge kids in a family)
if im honest the wii looks to be better than the ps2 in this regard, because everyone enjoys it, not just us core users.
what are these quality titles for the ds? I'd really like to know so I can buy them. My ds gets used about as often as my wii, which is only
slightly less than my psp, which is to say not often.
it's not about downplaying any achievement, it's about thinking of the real numbers. without question, the ps2 total sales numbers were affected by people who decided to repurchase the system after failure (just like the inflated numbers the 360 sees this gen). without the failure rate of the system, the sales would never have reached the numbers that they did. while it's true that the ds sees higher sales, partially due to the fact that only one person can play a ds at a time (photo dojo withstanding), i don't think that the impact on sales is nearly as strong as the ps2 failure rate.
as for your quoted numbers, i'd say that it's apples to oranges. while you may be right about the amount of systems per household, i still wouldn't say that children are the driving force behind the ds. also, i don't know one person that is still able to play a launch ps2, so i think the fail rate of ps2 is closely tied to age of system as well. the ps2 failure rate could very well be over 50%, easily.
i'd say that comparing home consoles to handhelds is apples to oranges, but it doesn't really matter, as the wii will most likely outsell ps2 anyhow.