Nintendo to be biggest force in gaming world

Strong sales of Nintendo's Wii and DS games consoles has seen the Japanese gaming giant shoot past Panasonic in the market value league. Nintendo's performance over the last year has seen its net worth drastically increase, and it's now closing in on Sony.

Nintendo is now worth about £25bn, after its consoles were snapped off the shelves three times quicker than Sony's PlayStation 3 and PSP consoles. Sony is currently worth in the region of £26.9bn.

"Nintendo is a market leader in everything it does now, which is basically the handheld as well as console gaming market. We haven't seen Nintendo being a market leader in both products for over a decade," said KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi Kamide in an email to CNN .

It follows that if Nintendo continues to grow at its current rate, and if Sony continues to underperform in the gaming market, Nintendo could soon become officially the biggest power in the games - and consumer technology - industry.

Nintendo growing strong

"One thing about Nintendo is that it has killer products and they represent a big portion of its overall business, offering investors a very clear reason to buy," said Mitsushige Akino at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"I think Nintendo is bound to overtake Sony [in market capitalisation]."