By Grant Shepherd

SYDNEY: Nintendo Australia has just announced that the Nintendo DS is now the fastest console to reach the two million unit mark in Australia, beating both its handheld competitors as well as all three major consoles.

Nintendo Australia confirmed this morning that its handheld Nintendo DS (inclusive of Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi) has now officially sold through more than two million units in Australia.

According to the results issued by independent market research company GfK Retail and Technology, Nintendo’s hugely successful console is now confirmed as the fastest selling console to reach the impressive milestone.

The GfK statistics have proven that the Nintendo DS reached the milestone in just 221 weeks, and for the last three years the DS has been Australia’s number one selling console.

The news is a massive boost for Nintendo and proves that even a small handheld console can stand up to the heavy weight competitors in the industry.

The likes of the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 may get all the headlines and attention, but the DS is the silent killer and now almost 10 per cent of all Australians own the immensely successful gaming device.