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Though we found out Wednesday evening that Nintendo's new DSi handheld will be launching in Japan before the end of 2008, it seems eager North American fans will have to wait. At a press conference Thursday morning in San Francisco, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that the iteration on their popular handheld will not make its way to stateside until "well into 2009."

Fils-Aime was surprisingly straight-forward about Nintendo's reason for this decision, which basically amounted to: They know they can sell more of the currently offered DS Lites. He explained that demand for the DS in North America is still rising incredibly quickly, with a 22% increase in 2008 from last year's already record-setting numbers. Fils-Aime let loose some statistics showing that enough DS systems have been sold in Japan to account for nearly 50% of Japanese households, while less than 25% are covered in North America.

While this is likely frustrating to some hardcore fans who will want the device as soon as possible -- including a few editors around the office -- Nintendo doesn't seem to be feeling the heat. Fils-Aime went on to announce that more DS and Wii units will ship in the October to December timeframe this year than last year, thought Nintendo remains unsure if they'll be able to meet demands. Wishing you could get your hands on a DSi this holiday? Let us know what you think in the comments.