Nintendo raises full-year forecast, Wii boosts H1

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd nearly tripled its first-half profit and boosted its annual earnings outlook on Thursday as its popular Wii and DS game machines outsell rival Sony Corp's PlayStation.

Offering quirky, easy-to-learn games and breaking new ground with motion-sensing controllers, Nintendo has expanded the gaming population to women and older people, a strategy that has helped its shares jump five-fold in two years.

Kyoto-based Nintendo raised its operating profit forecast for the year to March to 420 billion yen ($3.7 billion) from an earlier estimate of 370 billion yen. A Reuters consensus estimate from 20 analysts predicts annual profit of 422 billion yen.

The revised forecast is 86 percent above the previous year's result and follows an increase in first-half profit to 188.8 billion yen from 67.1 billion yen.

Annual revenue is now expected to rise 60 percent to 1.55 trillion yen

Demand for the Wii has been strong in the last couple of months, easily outpacing Sony's PlayStation 3, although Microsoft Corp's rival Xbox 360 has gained ground on its alien shooting game "Halo 3".

Nintendo has risen to among Japan's top five most valuable companies and its market capitalization last week topped 10 trillion yen (around $86 billion).

Nintendo shares were up 1.6 percent at 69,900 yen by late afternoon, some 30 minutes after the results were issued.

It revised its annual net profit forecast to 275 billion yen, up 12.2 percent on its previous estimate and 58 percent higher than the previous year. It also hiked its dividend forecast for the year to 1,090 yen from 960 yen.

Building on its Wii sports-oriented games, Nintendo is to launch a "Wii Fit" home fitness game featuring a pressure-sensitive mat that allows players to head soccer balls and imitate ski jumping.

And, in a major coup, software publisher Capcom Co Ltd said earlier this month it would develop the latest version of its blockbuster "Monster Hunter" action game for the Wii. The game had previously been developed for Sony's consoles and the switch to Nintendo has fed speculation that support for the PlayStation franchise may be slipping.

Sony and Microsoft are both due to report earnings later on Thursday.