Nintendo and Sharp are the latest Japanese brands to spill red ink over the tatami mats.

Nintendo has booked a drop in quarterly profits of 61 per cent, down to 42.3 billion yen from last year's high of 107.3 billion yen. However analysts are suggesting that it's suffering more from a paucity of compelling games, than falling victim to the recession.

Sales dropped 40 per cent to 253.5 billion yen, with its operating profit down 66 per cent, to 40.4 billion yen. Sales of the Wii console more than halved during June, and the boom in DS sales seems to be over with unit sales down 14 per cent YOY. That said, Nintendo still has the only games platforms actually making money, rather than losing it…

Meanwhile, Sharp has posted a 20 per cent drop in sales for the last quarter, from 747.8 billion yen to 598.3 billion yen. It also reported a net loss of 25.2 billion yen, from a profit of 24.9 billion yen previously.
While local sales have found new legs, exports to Europe and the US continue to suffer.

Interestingly, while LCD TVs came under pressure, Sharp has done well with Blu-ray hardware, particularly recorders. The corporation maintains that it will return to profit later this year.

Via Home Cinema Choice