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Nintendo rolling in money as Wii nears 25 million units

Nintendo hasn't just been sitting prettily on its laurels these past twelve months. Nope, the Kyoto firm has kept itself occupied by generating giant wads of filthy lucre, in readiness for when it takes over the world with Satoru Iwata as our new supreme overlord, and Shiggy his ruthless, iron-fisted deputy. Or something.

The company has released details of its full year results for the period ended March 31st, 2008, and guess what? Nintendo is rich. Profits shot up by 47.7 percent, while sales rose by 73 percent (to ¥1.67 trillion, or $16.1bn).

Not only that, but the Wii sold 18.61 million consoles in the last fiscal year, bringing it to a lifetime total of 24.45 million units (and, as we're now in late-April, we can safely presume that that figure has passed the landmark total of 25 million). On the software front, the console now has 26 million-sellers (up from five last year), 1.8m Japanese consumers risked their hamstrings by picking up Wii Fit, and Brawl sold 4.85 million units in the U.S. and Japan (and might even sell a few more when it launches in Europe this June).