A woman presents the DSi, the new portable video game console by Japanese video game giant Nintendo which is equipped with a 3.25-inch LCD display and 300,000-pixel digital camera on its handheld body, at the annunal Nintendo conference in Tokyo, October 2008. Nintendo has sold more than half a million of its latest hand-held DSi console in Japan in the first month since its launch.

Nintendo has sold more than half a million of its latest hand-held DSi console in Japan in the first month since its launch, a survey showed Thursday.

About 543,000 DSi consoles were sold since November 1, Ascii Media Works said. That compared with 1.327 million DS and 547,000 DS Lites sold in the first five weeks after their launches in 2004 and 2006 respectively, it said.

The new console, which sells for 18,900 yen (178 dollars), has a similar design to its predecessor, the DS Lite, but is slimmer and has a slightly larger screen.

It can be used as a photo album and enables users to change the facial expressions of the people in the pictures or draw flowers or other graphics into images. The DSi will be launched overseas as early as next spring.

© 2008 AFP