Some of the latest news of the AP and Reuters wires:

Nintendo Scores Big In Year-End Profits

Nintendo reported a 40 percent rise in profits during the last quarter in which it moved 3.19 Wii’s over the holiday season. Nintendo didn’t break down their quarterly figures completely, but did note a group net profit of 131.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion) from the period from April to December.

Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said it had met its target of 4 million units shipped by the end of 2006 as that number had been manufactured and were still getting distributed. He also said said the company is on track to reach its target sales of 6 million Wiis by the end of March.

Sony to Launch Only High End PS3 In Europe

Sony said it will launch its latest entry into the console wars, the Playstation 3, in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand on March 23 on March 23 but there will be no basic unit available for those who don’t want to pay for the more expensive Wi-Fi enabled model.

“We will focus on the launch of the one with a 60 gigabyte drive and have no plan now to introduce the 20 gigabyte model,” Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said.

Sony had already delayed the European launch because of shortages due to production problems. Market analysts believe that the decision to focus on the 60 GB model may be because it’s outselling the 20 GB model in North America and Japan. The unit will sell for It will sell for 599 euros, approximately $776.

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