Europe to get pink and blue Nintendo DS consoles.

Nintendo has announced that pink and blue versions of the million-selling Nintendo DS console will be launched across Europe this October, coinciding with the PAL release of Nintendogs.

At present only the silver DS is available Europe, but the blue version is already on sale in the US and there is a wide variety of colours to choose from in Japan, including black, white, red and turquoise.

The new pink and blue consoles will be released on October 7 alongside Nintendogs, a pet sim which tasks the user with selecting, training and caring for a puppy using the DS's touch screen and microphone capability.

The game is hugely popular in Japan and is hotly tipped to top the European gaming charts this Christmas.

"Since launching Nintendo DS in Europe on 11th March 2005, over 1 million people across Europe have embraced this new way to play games," commented Nintendo's senior director of European marketing, Jim Merrick.

"With three new colour choices now available and the launch of the groundbreaking Nintendogs in time for Christmas, we will continue to expand the handheld market and will be well on track to achieving sales of over 3 million Nintendo DS across Europe by the end of this year."

The pink and blue DS consoles are expected to carry the same price tag as the silver version, which currently retails at GBP 99.99.