Gamers are snapping up Wii consoles

Demand for the console has outstripped that for Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's XBox 360 - selling about 7.3 million units.

The Japanese firm made a net profit of 132.4bn yen ($1.16bn; �506m) from 54.4bn yen a year earlier.

Popularity of the handheld DS also helped, with Nintendo selling about 13.4 million of the consoles.

The DS console, which allows users to control play with a stylus, has proved popular with women and older users.

Meanwhile the motion sensitive Wii has proved popular after introducing a new way of playing computer games.

Supply difficulties

Earlier this week, Nintendo's Wii Sports swept the board at the 2007 British Academy Video Games Awards in London.

The games package won awards in categories such as gameplay, strategy and simulation, innovation and sports.

The game allows players to compete in onscreen sporting events using the Wii's controller as a tennis racquet, golf club or even a bowling ball.

Nintendo has upped the number of Wii consoles it expects to sell in the year to March from 16.5 million to 17.5 million.

Demand has been so high that the Japanese firm has had supply difficulties. It is thought that it will take another year before the firm can ramp up production to meet demand.

Separately, Sony, which has cut the price of its Playstation 3 to try to win back sales in the run-up to Christmas, said that strong sales of televisions and cameras had offset losses in its video games division during the July-to-September quarter.