The 3DS has sold 8 million units in the US

The 3DS has sold 8 million units in the US, 1 million more than its predecessor.

This figure comes out of an interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime at GamesIndustry International. Fils-Aime noted that software sales are on the rise, too. "When the NPD numbers come out later this week, you're going to see life-to-date 3DS game sales surpass 20 million units in the US," and that's only counting physical units. "3DS game sales are up 55 percent versus last year, counting both physical and digital."

The NoA president also stated that of the 15 Nintendo-published titles on the 3DS, 11 per cent of those sales in 2013 have been conducted digitally over the eShop. He added that 80,000 of the 240,000 copies of Fire Emblem sold to date have been purchased digitally.

"Through that connected experience, consumers have downloaded more than 41 million items from the eShop," Fils-Aime added, though this statistic includes more than just games as it covers "everything from full games to applications like Nintendo video, DLC, demos, free items, and more."

Fils-Aime was less keen on discussing the Wii U's sales performance, but seemed confident about its future. "What I would say about Wii U - and what Mr. Iwata has said - is that the pace of launches has been slower than we hoped. But as we prepare for E3, the pace of launches for Wii U is going to dramatically increase."

He has a point. It's easy to rag on the Wii U now, but remember when everyone thought the 3DS was going nowhere fast? Or the original DS? Or the PS3? Even the Xbox 360 was sorely lacking in exclusives its first year on store shelves. Now if Nintendo announces a Wii U line-up as cracking as its 3DS announcements earlier today, it could still have some fight left in it.