Nintendo announced today that its free online gaming service – the straightforwardly named ‘Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection’ - is now used by over five million DS owners worldwide, with over 200 million gameplay sessions played since the service launched in late 2005.

Bear in mind that more than 40-million of the handhelds have been sold worldwide.

There are over sixty DS titles which support online multiplayer over the Wi-Fi service with the most popular being Nintendo's first-party handheld classics Animal Crossing: Wild World, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

Nintendo’s claims, from its own “internal demographic tracking studies” claim that over the last 18 months, DS purchases have increased by 42% amongst women, 127% amongst people over the age of 30, and 212% amongst consumers older than 35.