Nintendo's president launches a staunch defence of the performance of its systems...

Despite posting a rare loss in Nintendo's latest earnings report, Satoru Iwata has gone on record to insist the performances of Wii and DS are still healthy.

Addressing investors, the company president was armed with several graphs to prove that Wii continues to out-pace sales of the unparalleled PS2. He also claimed that the long-tail commercial appeal of the console's top games would help it continue its impressive form. Iwata also hinted that the Christmas period could prove to be a big boost for Wii, citing the 3.2 million systems shifted in the US last December, and stating that unexpected things can happen in the unpredictably explosive holiday.

In fact, Iwata went onto claim that the unusually strong yen was the "sole reason" for Nintendo's financial blip earlier this week.

As for the DS, Iwata noted that in Europe especially, hardware and software sales aren't anywhere near what they used to be.

"We assume that several reasons are intertwined. The days when any Nintendo DS software could sell are over, and consumers have become more selective. As a result, the gap in unit sales between hit titles and non-hit titles has expanded and, almost at the same time, illegal copies have spread across Europe. Also, after the Nintendogs and Brain Training software titles showed explosive sales there, we have been unable to offer another software title that European consumers really feel like purchasing."

Interestingly, he also stated that the UK market in particular sees a low rate of DS titles entering the charts, leading one to believe that the nation is at the moment more focussed on home consoles.

Finally, Iwata-san was keen to moderate expectation for the near future, saying that the company doesn't have much reason to be too optimistic in the immediate term. Nevertheless, Nintendo still forecasts sales of Wii and DS to achieve 15 million for the whole of the fiscal year (ending March 2011).