A surge in sales of its GameCube console pushed Nintendo's second-quarter income almost 100 per cent over the same period last year.

For the three months to 30 June 2004, Nintendo achieved a net income of ¥22.6bn ($202m), 96.5 per cent up on Q2 2003's ¥11.5bn ($103m).

Driving the gain was a 712.5 per cent increase in unit shipments, from 80,000 in Q2 2003 to 650,000 this past quarter. Some 2.3m GameBoy Advance units were shipped during Q2 2004. A 21 per cent year-on-year decline in hardware manufacturing costs helped the console maker further.

Lower prices saw hardware revenues fall 13 per cent year on year to ¥39.5bn ($352m), but software revenues jumped 11 per cent to ¥42bn ($375m).

Nintendo quit the quarter with ¥717bn ($6.49bn) in the bank.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects to see FY 2004 as a whole deliver a doubling of income over 2003. ®

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