Nintendo saw its profits plunge 51 per cent during the first half of its current fiscal year as sales slid on falling demand for its ageing GameCube console.

"The market for the current generation of console hardware is becoming saturated and is approaching a transitional phase to next-generation consoles," the company warned. Its own next-gen machine, Revolution, is not expected to ship until the end of the fiscal year, in March 2006, at the earliest.

Net income fell year on year, to ¥36.63bn ($308.57m) from ¥46.45bn ($391.29m), again just above Nintendo's forecast, which was ¥36bn ($303.26m).

However, Nintendo failed to meet its operating profit forecast, just missing the ¥20bn ($168.48m) target with a final figure of ¥19.6bn ($165.11m).

Looking ahead, Nintendo said it expects to post a full-year net profit of ¥75bn ($631.79m), down 14.1 per cent on FY2005's total, ¥87.4bn ($736.25m). It anticipates annual sales of ¥500bn ($4.21bn). ®

Related stories

• Nintendo splashes Revolution with 'Wii' (28 April 2006)
• Nintendo Revolution: affordable, shipping by Thanksgiving (19 January 2006)
• Nintendo to announce Revolution in May 2006 (29 November 2005)
• Nintendo readies Euro Wi-Fi gamezone (4 November 2005)
• Virus writers create Nintendo DS Trojan (12 October 2005)
• Nintendo shows 'Revolutionary' console controller (16 September 2005)
• Nintendo's Game Boy Micro to arrive early November (17 August 2005)
• Nintendo re-clads GBA as Game Boy Micro (18 May 2005)
• Nintendo makes Revolution revelation (16 May 2005)