Hey, did anybody else think that the whole Pokémon obsession would've died off by now? Well, uh-- I guess not. Despite running at full tilt for over ten years as one of gaming's biggest merch-spawning cash-o-demons, Pokémon is still at the heart of gotta catch 'em all compulsive disorders for gamers around the world, the US being no exception. Nintendo revealed today that nationwide pre-orders for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for the DS have topped out at over 533,000.

The report also notes that these numbers are more than twice what was raked in by the last two Pokémon titles, LeafGreen and FireRed, which ended up selling over 3.4 million units in North America alone. With the DS and DS Lites having sold almost 37 million units worldwide, Nintendo's got a pretty massive install base to hook on oddball monster-catchin'. That is, potentially, a whole lot of pokemans.

With numbers like these, perhaps it's not too early to suggest that these latest titles in the series might be the best-selling games of 2007. Expect the gates of hell to spill open once Pokémon Diamond and Pearl land next week.

[Via Reuters UK]