Tucked away in a press release announcing global DS sales was an interesting nugget of information, the number of DS Lites sold in South Africa since launch.

According to Matthew Grose, Managing Director of Core Gaming who handle Nintendo’s distribution rights in South Africa, the DS Lite has sold 20 000 units since the console launched in South Africa in February 2008.

“The DS Lite launched in South Africa with much fanfare in February 2008. Since then, Nintendo has sold 20 000 DS Lites into the South African market, sales largely driven by games like Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training and Nintendogs, reflecting the appeal of the system to a new and untapped gaming demographic including women and even seniors. Traditional games like New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart DS keep people coming back for more.”

Core Gaming also announced that the DS Lite would be available in three new colours in South Africa this month. Turquoise, green and red will join the range that is currently available here: black, white, pink and silver.

Last week Nintendo announced that the combined sales of the DS, DS Lite and DSi had reached 100 million worldwide. Nintendo DS games have experienced a similar success with 83 DS titles having shipped one million copies worldwide as at the end of December 2008, seven of which have topped the 10 million shipment figure.