Just as Sony announced a 70% drop in profits, even if the game division of the company performed better than expected, Nintendo is saying that during the first half of its fiscal year, it managed to increase profits by a whopping 34%, even as the global financial crisis was spreading.

The Japanese company, which makes both consoles and videogames, has become very powerful following the release of the Nintendo Wii, currently outselling the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 combined, and that of several very popular games that feature characters such as Zelda and Mario.

Revenue reached almost 8.5 billion dollars in the first half of the financial year, which runs from April to the end of September. In the same period, profits grew from 1.34 billion dollars to 1.47 billion.

The Nintendo flagship product, the Wii, sold more than 10 million consoles in six months. Overall, the console managed to get more than 34 million $. Meanwhile, related software totaled 81 million $.

The Nintendo DS moved more than 13 million handhelds in the same period and software sold for it brought in 85 million $.

Nintendo, which is arguably the most successful console maker at this point, still warned that a strong yen might affect its profits for the whole year and revised expectations down by 16%. The company is expecting to see a very good Christmas season in both the United States and in Europe and the Nintendo Wii is set to remain the best selling console for the foreseeable future.

The introduction of the new DSi will also help Nintendo fend off the advances of the PlayStation Portable on the handheld market, while the digital distribution service for the device will likely see an increase in the value of software sold for it.