The Nintendo Wii has massively boosted sales on the highstreet pre-Christmas.

Game Group is reporting that its profits for 2007 will come in nearly 13% above expectations after shoppers rushed to buy the games console.

Despite gloomy predictions before Christmas, Game said that its expected profits for the year will, in fact, be far higher than last year's.

Pre-tax profits for the 12 months to January 31 will be at least £70 million, nearly £8 million above analyst's forecasts, say reports in the national press.

Shares in the group, Europe’s biggest specialist games retailer, rose 6%, or 14p to 246p.

Game has yet to release sales figures for the Christmas period, but these are expected on 15 January.

Last month, Lisa Morgan, chief executive, told journalists that like-for-like sales were up 44% in the year to date, fuelled by the success of the DS and the Wii.

Game also benefited from strong sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and PlayStation’s decision to cut the price of its PS3.

The retailer reported that its top-selling games included Brain Training, for the Nintendo DS, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

>> Via - Times Online