Boredom, not the recession, may be Nintendo’s biggest villain. Sales of the once unstoppable Wii console have tumbled for the first time since its launch three years ago, sending the gaming giant’s quarterly profit down 61 percent. Nintendo blames a dearth of blockbuster games, without which enthusiasm for the Wii floundered. “These casual gamers and light users, they’re getting bored,” said Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at Deutsche Securities in Japan. “Nintendo needs to keep their attention with new software, but that hasn’t happened.” The Kyoto-based company said Thursday its April-June net profit retreated to 42.3 billion yen ($445.2 million) from 107.3 billion yen a year earlier. Sales declined 40 percent to 253.5 billion yen, while operating profit — a measure of its core business — fell 66 percent to 40.4 billion yen. The figures are a dramatic reversal from just a half year ago, when the Wii and DS handheld device smashed holiday sales records in the U.S. Popular new game titles

last year like “Mario Kart Wii” and “Wii Fit” fed the fervor. Nintendo sold 2.23 million Wii units during the three months through June 30, compared with 5.17 million last year. Global sales of Wii software slipped to 31.07 million units from 40.41 million the previous year. Customers bought 5.97 million DS devices, down 14 percent on year. “I knew the results were going to be bad, but this was even worse than my expectations,” Kikuchi said. Nintendo’s sales in the Americas fell 38 percent, while those to Europe plunged by more than half — troubling signs for a company that derives 87 percent of its revenue from overseas markets. The company was also hurt by a stronger-than-expected yen, which reduces the value of overseas profits when repatriated to Japan. It estimated an exchange rate of 100 yen to the dollar. Instead, the dollar averaged 97.32 yen during the…

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Nintendo Profit Tumbles as Game Hits Dwindle