Earlier this month, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that the publisher plans to ship approximately 1.5 million 3DS units in its home country by the end of March, and 4 million units worldwide in the same period. Although Nintendo has not yet officially revealed how many of those units will be available on launch day, some Japanese retailers have begun to post their own figures, urging customers to get in their preorder as early as possible.

　　According to gaming blog Andria Sang and this post on a Japanese retailer's site (as translated by GameSpot), retailers across Japan are telling their customers that Nintendo plans to make 400,000 units of the 3DS console available on the February 26 launch day, with preorders expected to begin around the 20th of this month.

　　The retailers warned that this number is low, urging customers to preorder as early as possible. If this number is correct, it would put launch-day 3DS units at exactly the same number as the Wii's launch-day units in Japan, something Japanese consumers will probably be wary of, given the Wii sold out across the country on its launch day of December 2, 2006.

　　Nintendo is yet to announce an official release date for the 3DS in territories outside Japan. It is expected the console will arrive before the end of March. For more information, check out GameSpot's latest breakdown of the 3DS.