One of the video game industry's most celebrated franchises is officially hotter than ever. Within just five days of availability, more than 1 million copies of Pokemon® Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for the portable Nintendo DS™ have sold in the United States since Sunday's launch; a faster rate than any previous Pokemon games since the franchise's U.S. introduction, almost a decade ago. To date, more than 155 million copies of Pokemon games have sold worldwide.

Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl are poised to become two of the top-selling games of 2007 in the United States. More than one half million people pre-ordered the games before launch. Additionally, thousands of people attended the kickoff launch event in New York, and demand for the games continues to be off the charts. These latest versions of Pokemon games were introduced in Japan on Sept. 28, 2006, and have already been purchased by more than 5 million video gamers there.

The two games include a number of features that make them particularly attractive to gamers, including:

* More than 100 new Pokemon.
* A 3-D look that makes Pokemon jump off the screen.
* Worldwide wireless battling and trading using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection.
* Voice chat functions that let players talk wirelessly with their friends.

Later this year, these two titles will also help expand the Pokemon universe for the first time to Wii™, Nintendo's new home video game system. Diamond and Pearl owners will be able to use their DS hardware units as controllers for Pokemon Battle Revolution (launching June 25), the first Pokemon game available for Wii. Players also will be able to export characters to the Wii game.

For more information about Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, visit www.Pokemon-Games.com.

Source: press.nintendo.com