Nintendo reports a quarterly loss as Wii game sales tumble

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Nintendo reported a loss for its first fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, as the Japanese company saw its Wii game sales wither.

Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo said it had a loss of 25.2 billion yen, or $287 million, compared to a profit of 42.3 billikon yen a year earlier. Revenues were 188.6 billion yen, down 25.6 percent from 253.5 billion yen a year earlier.

The company saw sales of Wii console sales increase, but it said that Wii software as well as Nintendo DS hardware and software sales fell. In addition, the rise in value of the Japanese yen compared to a year ago had a big negative impact on net sales. Nintendo also had foreign exchange losses of 70.5 billion yen, caused by the strength of the yen. Nintendo has a lot of its assets in non-Japanese currencies.

Nintendo said it has sold 73.97 million Wii consoles worldwide, 573 million Wii games, 132 million Nintendo DS handheld game systems, and 740.9 million DS games. The company left its forecast for the fiscal year unchanged. It anticipates selling 18 million more Wii consoles by March 31, 2011, 165 million more Wii games, 30 million new DS hardware units, and 150 million more DS games.