Sets the record for passing the milestone in under a year...

Nintendo has confirmed that the 3DS has just sailed past the milestone of five million units sold in its homeland of Japan.

The feat also makes it the fastest-selling device; passing the figure in a staggeringly quick 51 weeks. Nintendo's other recent successful systems all took over a year to achieve the goal.

After releasing in 2004, Nintendo DS currently sits at around 32.8 million sold in its lifetime. Sony's rival PSP is just below 19 million. The handheld market contrasts heavily with the home console scene - Wii stands at just over 12.2 million sold while PS3 is at 7.8 million. The latter will surely be eclipsed by 3DS soon into its second year.

Perhaps the biggest question mark now over 3DS' head is whether it can replicate the explosion its predeccesor eventually saw thanks to unprecedented success of the Brain Training line of software. Satoru Iwata promised last year that new types of genres were in development for 3DS.