• Associated Press, Wednesday, July 25, 2007 11 AM

After laying in rival Sony's shadow for more than a decade, Nintendo has officially gotten its groove back: The Japanese video game giant posted a fivefold increase in second-quarter earnings yesterday, thanks to strong sales from its Wii console and portable DS gaming systems. Net income was $667 million for the quarter on total sales of $2.83 billion; the company also raised its profit forecast for the year to $2.04 billion.

After just eight months, Nintendo's Wii, with its innovative motion-sensitive controller, is surging to the top of the next-generation video game sales charts. It will soon surpass Microsoft's expensive Xbox 360, which had a one-year head start, in total sales. Moving forward, its only possible setback is a supply shortage as Nintendo struggles (admittedly) to meet demand. Meanwhile, Nintendo its portable DS game system, on the market for nearly 3 years, has sold 47.27 million units worldwide, far outstripping Sony's PSP.

To be sure, Nintendo's next-gen rivals are struggling. According to research firm VGCartz.com, Sony has sold just 3.69 million PS3s to date. Microsoft has sold 10.15 million Xbox 360s, but it's set to lose that lead after selling just 420,000 consoles in Japan--the industry's biggest market--in 18 months.

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