Nintendo "Baffles" Market, Cuts Profit Forecast by 33%

— -- Even Nintendo gets the blues, judging from the Wii-maker's latest counterintuitive financial announcement. In a shock reversal, the company has inexplicably slashed its full-year profit forecasts by 33 percent.

That certainly doesn't appear to jibe with sales figures, which peg Nintendo's hardware and software sales at second-to-none levels during most of 2008. Nintendo's third-quarter results alone were up 21 percent over the same period in 2007.

According to Times Online, analysts are describing Nintendo's move as a "baffling and potentially very worrying" sign for worldwide Wii sales.

Blame it on the recession?

Maybe, maybe not.

"Today’s revision suggests that the roaring pace of Wii growth that we’ve seen until now may be over," said Hiroshi Kamide, a KBC Financial Products analyst.

Kamide says the reduction may imply that Nintendo knows "something big has gone wrong, and that people are not buying the machines."

Not buying the machines? Were the four million Wii units sold in November and December in the U.S. alone just a hoax?

Matt Peckham hasn't powered up his Wii in a while, but hopes he'll shortly have reason to. You can follow his dispatches at twitter.com/game_on.