As previously rumored, Nintendo Co Ltd announced two special editions of its DS handheld gaming unit for the holiday season. Earlier this month, an investor note released by Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson claimed the Japanese company is secretly working on a new version of its best selling handheld console Nintendo DS.

Apparently he was partly right. The two holiday bundles will go on sale in the United States on November 23, on this year's "Black Friday".

"We chose a couple of the products (games) we know are so loved ... and picked colors we know appeal to consumers right now," said Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo's director of communications. "It's already this incredible cake and we just want to put more icing on it," Perrin said.

The company announced that one special edition version will be colored gold and will come with the epic adventure game "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" while the other, a metallic pink model, will come with the puppy training title "Nintendogs".

A DS and one game normally costs about $160, but Nintendo said it will let retailers set their own prices for the new bundles, which means they will probably go for around $130, as they did until now, or they could offer them with more "free" accessories at the MSRP price.

Nintendo DS was launched in late 2004 and a revamped version, lighter and slimmer, was introduced two years later, under the name Nintendo DS Lite. Nintendo DS is a huge success for the Japanese company, with almost 14 million units sold worldwide since its launch. Although it’s already three years old, Nintendo DS is still selling like hot cakes, as the latest NPD report revealed. During the last month no less than 458,800 Nintendo DS’ were sold in US alone.

"Nintendo DS remains the portable system of choice for gamers. Our new bundles will be collector's items for current gamers while offering an attractive way for people new to video games to play with style," said Marketing and corporate communications senior vice president George Harrison.