Nintendo interim profits plunge more than half

Nintendo Co. said Thursday that interim net profit plunged by more than half and it slashed its full-year forecasts due to a sharp drop in sales of its hit Wii video game console.

The company posted a net profit of 69.49 billion yen (770 million dollars) for the six months to September, down from 144.83 billion a year earlier.

Nintendo, which competes with Sony and Microsoft in the multi-billion dollar video game industry, sold 5.75 million Wii machines worldwide in the first-half period, down from 10.1 million a year earlier.

It recently cut the price of the Wii by a fifth in an effort to reinvigorate sales -- a move that also hit its profits.