According to a report on GamesIndustry.biz, the Nintendo DS will ship to retail in Japan on November 4th, followed by a US launch a week later on November 11th. The DS will be priced at 19,000 Yen ($175 US dollars) in Japan and at $179.99 in the US. The North American price is a split between what many industry insiders were guessing the system's price would be at E3 ($150) and what online retailers EBgames and Gamestop currently have it placed at ($200). This same report indicates that there will be roughly a half dozen titles available when the DS releases in Japan, and that they're shooting to make it a full dozen by the end of the year. Nintendo is hoping to have a base of 3 million units sold worldwide by the end of the next fiscal year.

While these reports sound plausible enough, nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo HQ. The DS has yet to even receive an official moniker yet, with "Nitro" being a possibility, and several variations including the words "Game Boy" also theorized. Hard figures from the brass at Nintendo are sure to surface sometime around or before the Tokyo Game Show in September.