Greatly outpaces its predecessor too...

Nintendo of America today announced that 3DS will hit its first birthday having sold over 4.5 million units in the US.

3DS launched in the US on March 27th 2011. The system already passed the first-year sales of Nintendo DS in the region after just eight months on shelves. DS shifted 2.3 million units in its first year.

It's not just hardware that's moving fast. In its first twelve months, 3DS has shifted over 9 million games, compared to the 5 million that DS managed.

All this amounts to $1.2 billion in revenue generated by 3DS; over double the $540 million raked in by DS when it hit one.