Nintendo profit drops for first time in six years

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese game-maker Nintendo suffered its first drop in annual profit in six years, hit by a price cut for the Wii home console and sliding global sales.

The maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games said today that net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 fell 18 percent to 228.6 billion yen ($2.5 billion).

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co., which does not break down quarterly numbers, said annual sales slipped 22 percent to 1.434 trillion yen ($15.4 billion).

Nintendo is expecting tough times to continue. It forecasts sales to fall 2.4 percent to 1.4 trillion yen ($15 billion) for the fiscal year through March 2011 and expects earnings to slide 12.5 percent to 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion).

But the company expressed confidence in the popularity of its game machines. It is banking on a handheld that allows for 3-D games without the need for special glasses and which is set to go on sale this fiscal year.