Wii ... would like to play

Nintendo profits have more than doubled in the past six months ending Sept. 30, from 54.35 billion yen (over $476 million) to 132.42 billion yen ($1.16 billion).

Spurned on by the ever-popular Wii console and DS handheld, sales have jumped from 298.82 billion yen to 694.80 billion yen ($6.07 billion).

Retailers can't seem to keep the Wii on the shelves. Brick and mortar retailers like Game Stop report same-day sell-outs, and a search on Amazon finds Wii consoles — used and new — selling for $100 more than its retail price.

Nintendo shipped 3.9 million Wiis this past quarter, bringing the total sold to 13.2 million. Nintendo expects to sell 17.5 million Wiis by years-end.

Instead of aiming for hardcore gamers, the Wii has targeted the casual gamer. Its ads enjoy heavy rotation on the ABC.com sitcom player and similar sites, where commercial breaks are devoted to selling the family-fun aspect of the console.

The repositioning has driven competitor Microsoft's Xbox 360 to launch a value-priced family version of its console.

Meanwhile Sony's PS3 is experiencing lackluster sales, given its high price. The company projects that it will sell 75 million units by 2010.