Shortly after the multimedia-packed DSi was announced, Reggie Fils-Aime was asked when the handheld would be hitting North America, to which he replied “well into 2009.” Thankfully, that vague release window has since been narrowed down by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who expects that the handheld will arrive in overseas markets this summer, not beyond fall 2009.

Specific plans will be unveiled by our local subsidiaries, but an autumn or year-end launch would probably be too late.

Iwata does not expect economic slowdown to hamper sales of the DSi either, noting that he has yet to “[see] even the slightest sign that overseas DS and Wii demand is being affected by the economy.” He’s right, too — sales of Nintendo hardware increased considerably from August to September.

Nintendo sees overseas DSi launch by next summer [Reuters]

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