Nintendo's profit marks record high on popularity of DS, Wii consoles+

OSAKA, May 7 Kyodo -
Nintendo Co. said Thursday its group net profit in fiscal 2008 rose 8.5 percent
from the previous year to a record high of 279.09 billion yen due to the strong
popularity of its DS and Wii game consoles, fending off the effects of the
global economic slowdown that has hurt corporate earnings worldwide, especially
electronics and automakers.

The game creator said its operating profit, pretax profit and sales also rose
to record highs, despite 133.9 billion yen in foreign exchange losses due to
the yen's appreciation.
It is the fifth straight year that Nintendo's net profit has reached a record
high.
Operating profit increased 14 percent to 555.26 billion yen for the business
year ended March 31, on 1.84 trillion yen in sales, up 9.9 percent.
Nintendo said it owes its good earnings results to robust sales of its DS
portable game console and the Wii game machine both in Japanese and overseas
markets as well as a great diversity of software titles for them, attracting a
bigger customer base from beginners to experts.
Nintendo's upbeat earnings data reflect how the world's game market has been
resilient in the face of the deepening global economic slump.
With these strong results in mind, the Kyoto-based game creator said its annual
dividend payout for fiscal 2008 is 1,440 yen per share, compared with 1,260 yen
a year earlier.
For fiscal 2009 ending in March next year, Nintendo said it plans to pay out
1,270 yen per share in dividend.
Speaking at a press conference in Osaka, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata
indicated that overseas sales will continue to increase, saying ''There is
still room for expansion (of sales) in the European and U.S. markets.''
With the scheduled launch of new software in the latter half of this year,
Nintendo is eyeing further profit growth for the current business year.
For fiscal 2009, the company projects that its group net profit will rise 7.5
percent from the previous year to 300 billion yen and that its pretax profit
will be 500 billion yen, an increase of 11.4 percent.
But Nintendo expects its operating profit to fall 11.8 percent to 490 billion
yen and sales to drop 2.1 percent to 1.8 trillion yen.
Thanks to the launch in November 2008 of the Nintendo DSi, the third-generation
version of its popular DS handheld game console, global DS sales totaled 31.18
million units for fiscal 2008. Cumulative DS sales expanded to 101.78 million
units, topping the 100 million mark in the shortest period of time for a game
machine.
The DSi is equipped with camera and audio player and recorder functions. It
features a liquid-crystal screen larger than the previous model's and a thinner
body.
For the equally popular Wii, launched in December 2006, global sales totaled
25.95 million units in fiscal 2008, with its cumulative sales reaching 50.39
million units. It achieved cumulative sales of 50 million units in the shortest
period of time for any game device.
The Wii features an innovative motion-sensing controller that allows gamers to
direct on-screen play by swinging it like a racket.
In particular, the Wii Fit, a popular game title for home fitness, has achieved
brisk sales at home and abroad. Global sales came to 16.37 million copies in
fiscal 2008, bringing the title's cumulative sales to 18.22 million copies.
In line with robust game console sales, the number of million-seller Nintendo
game software titles rose to 54 in fiscal 2008 from 26 in the previous year.
==Kyodo