By David Smith, 11/11/2004

Nintendo's new DS handheld has drawn 2 million domestic orders in advance of its Japanese release, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports today. That's the number of units retailers have placed orders for since Nintendo first began accepting them November 3.

To cope with advance demand for the handheld, which is reportedly double what it had initially expected, Nintendo is spreading DS production to a third manufacturing facility in China. Originally it was to be produced at only two factories.

That still apparently won't be enough to fill all the orders placed by Japanese retailers, however. Nintendo expects to ship just over one million units in Japan by the end of the year (and an equivalent number in North America), and fill remaining orders after the turn of the year.

Nintendo already revised its projected worldwide DS shipments for the fiscal year (which ends next March 31) upward by half a million units, to four million units. Now, however, Nintendo reportedly expects to sell through that many units to consumers by the end of March, instead of simply selling them in to retailers.

For comparison, the Game Boy Advance SP reportedly drew only 1.5 million orders in Japan by the end of its first month of availability.

In the past, Nintendo has often tried to limit supplies of new hardware at launch to boost demand. However, nowadays, quickly establishing a sizable installed base at launch is critical for new hardware, since it drives future software support for the platform. With Sony's PSP, which launches in Japan December 12, expected to be in short supply during its first months of release, Nintendo is likely looking to deliver as many DS units to the market as possible.