New Nintendo Machine HOT STOCKS

Nintendo said it would begin selling a new DS machine that can take pictures and play music on Nov. 1 in Japan, in a move to cement its lead against Sony’s PlayStation Portable and potentially encroach on a market dominated by Apple’s iPod and iPhone.

The new model, which will be slimmer and have bigger displays than the current model, will sell for 18,900 yen, up from 16,800 yen for the current model but below the PSP’s 19,800 yen. Nintendo plans to sell the new machine, the DSi, outside Japan in 2009.

The company, known for such game characters as Mario and Zelda, raised its operating profit forecast in August for the year to March 2009 by 23 percent to 650 billion yen on strong sales of the DS and Wii. Nintendo sold 6.94 million units worldwide of the DS in April- June, compared with 3.72 million units of Sony’s PSP.

Originally published by Reuters.

(c) 2008 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.