Dragon Quest IX has been setting Japanese software sales charts on fire since its retail launch last Saturday, and by most accounts the DS RPG scored over 2 million units in sales during its first two days on the market.  It's the best-selling title thus far into 2009, so perhaps it's no surprise that the game is having a positive effect on DS hardware sales as well.

According to weekly sales reports compiled by publisher ASCII Media Works, hardware sales for Nintendo's DS hit 126,786 units of the DS for the week ending July 12th, one day after DQIX's launch.  That's over double the amount of 51,601 DS handhelds sold the week before that (Media Create puts the number at 54,362 units), and marks the first time in six months the DS has exceeded 100,000 units in sales during a given week.  ASCII reckons it's no coincidence this DS sales boost occured during the same weekend in which Dragon Quest IX hit stores.  The DS hardware sales figures ought to include both the DSi and DS Lite models, given the flagship status the former has earned in the DS productline.

DQ series creator Yūji Horii (center) 'n friends at DQIX launch event
(Image Source: Square Enix DQIX Blog)