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Nintendo's latest handheld is still some months away for Western gamers

The DSi’s Japanese launch has been something of a success, with units flying off the shelves almost as fast as they're replenished. You’d assume with such a groundswell of hype surrounding Nintendo’s latest DS hardware revision that a Western release would be pushed through as quick as possible, but according to IGN, Nintendo of America has confirmed that the handheld won’t see the light of day Stateside until March 2009 at the earliest.

NoA bigwig Reggie Fils-Aime recently said that Yank gamers wouldn’t be getting their sweaty palms on the DSi until the end of 2009, but he was swiftly contradicted by his Japanese boss Satoru Iwata, who said that “an autumn or year-end launch [in the US] would probably be too late". IGN’s report would appear to prove that the veteran company has now reached some kind of conclusion, but we can’t help but feel that the middle of ’09 might be a little too long for hardcore Ninty fans to wait.