Pre-orders for the upcoming Pokemon® Diamond and Pokemon® Pearl video games for the portable Nintendo DS™ have topped one half million in the United States, and Nintendo is advising fans to brace themselves for the next wave of Poke-mania. Based on the huge pre-sales for Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, Nintendo expects them to be among the top-selling games for all of 2007.

With four days to go until they arrive, more than 533,000 pre-orders have been taken for Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl. Already these games have more than doubled the pre-sale numbers of Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen, which launched in 2004. Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon LeafGreen went on to sell more than 3.4 million combined in North America.

Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl have consistently ranked among the top-selling video game products on Amazon.com, and there are still four days until launch.

Pokemon became a nationwide hit the instant it arrived in the United States in 1998. Now a new wave of Pokemon excitement is on its way, complete with more than 100 new Pokemon characters, the ability for players to battle wirelessly on Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection and voice-chat abilities, which act like a cell phone but with connection among friends only.

The Official Nintendo Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Player's Guide also will be available at retail on April 22. For more information about the games, visit www.Pokemon-Games.com

Source: http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=11981