Nintendo Sinks into Red for 1st Half

Nintendo sank into the red for the fiscal first half, battered by a rising yen that hurts exports and plunging sales as demand for its game machines ran out of steam.

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co., which makes Pokemon and Super Mario video games, reported Thursday a loss of 2.01 billion yen ($24.7 million) for the April-September period.

The company, which also makes the Wii home console and DS handheld game machines, did not break down quarterly numbers. It posted a 69.5 billion yen profit for the same six-month period a year earlier.

First-half sales dropped nearly 34 percent to 363.16 billion yen ($4.46 billion).

TOKYO (AP)