Nintendo profits 8.5%

Nintendo's annual profit rose 8.5 percent, propelled by its hitWii and DS game machines, but a forecast for lower sales shows even the resilient video game maker isn't totally immune to the global slump.

Still, Nintendo is faring much better than other big name Japanese manufacturers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., both forecasting record annual losses, lending weight to president Satoru Iwata's boast the game maker is "recession free."

The company said Thursday it racked up a record 279.09 billion yen ($2.8 billion) net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, up from 257.34 billion yen the previous year.

Fiscal year sales edged up 9.9 percent to 1.839 trillion yen from 1.672 trillion yen, with overseas sales accounting for 87.5 percent, according to the Kyoto-based maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games.