Nintendo optimistic on earnings, console sales

<br>(Tokyo-AP) -- Japan's Nintendo says profits rose 14 percent for the first half of the fiscal year compared to a year ago. It cites strong sales of video games for the portable Game Boy and the

Wednesday, November 21st 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Tokyo-AP) -- Japan's Nintendo says profits rose 14 percent for the first half of the fiscal year compared to a year ago. It cites strong sales of video games for the portable Game Boy and the revamped Game Boy Advance.

Nintendo also forecasts a 26 increase in revenue for its full fiscal year ending March 2002, helped by strong sales of its highly anticipated GameCube video-game system.

For the six months, Nintendo posted a net profit of 276 (m) million dollars. Revenue climbed more than 18 percent.

The GameCube, which went on sale in September in Japan and Sunday in the U-S also helped boost revenue.

So far, Nintendo has sold a-half (m) million GameCube machines and 710-thousand software game titles in Japan.

The results seem to indicate that Nintendo is holding its own against Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation two in the three-way video-game console war.