We'd already heard that the NIntendo 3DS is the biggest-selling console ever in Japan, and now numbers for the US have been released. Nintendo has sold 4.5 million units in the first 12 months — almost double the 2.3 million it achieved with the Nintendo DS — along with more than 9 million games. It could well be that this difference is in the software available, with more than 100 titles on sale compared to the DS' 58, but this figure is also bound to be buoyed by the $80 price cut in July last year.

At the last count in early January, the 3DS had just broken the 4 million mark, suggesting sales of around a quarter of a million per month in the US. While NIntendo might be set to post the first loss in its history, it's remaining positive, with major franchises like Kid Icarus: Uprising and Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir both coming soon.