Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. may add accessories to its top-selling Wii game console and upgrade the handheld DS player to maintain its lead over Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. without having to match their price cuts.

President Satoru Iwata will probably unveil the changes when he briefs the media and investors at a conference tomorrow in Japan, said Pelham Smithers, an analyst at Pali International Ltd. in Singapore. Nintendo is preparing to introduce a new DS that's equipped with a camera and music player, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sept. 28. The Kyoto-based company declined to comment.

Iwata has kept the price of the Wii unchanged at $250 since its debut in 2006 by adding products to complement the flagship console, while Sony and Microsoft cut prices. Nintendo's Wii will probably widen its lead by outselling Sony's PlayStation 3 by 2- to-1 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 by 4-to-1 this fiscal year, Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. said today.

``Nintendo has no need to cut the Wii's price,'' said Takashi Oka, a senior analyst at CSK Institute for Sustainability, a Tokyo-based research firm. ``If Nintendo cuts prices now, people who already bought the Wii will feel they've lost money. Nintendo won't do such a thing.''

Nintendo will probably sell 26.5 million Wii consoles in the year ending March 31, compared with 7 million Xbox 360 machines, Daiwa said in a report today. Tokyo-based Sony forecasts it will sell 10 million PS3 consoles. Last year, Nintendo's Wii outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 by two to one, according to Daiwa.

Price Cuts

Microsoft stepped up the pressure on Sept. 5, when it cut U.S. prices of the Xbox 360 by as much as 29 percent, allowing the world's largest software maker to offer a $199 model that's cheaper than the Wii for the first time. Price cuts go into effect in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan today.

Sony, which has piled up more than $3 billion in losses over the past 2 1/2 years from the games division, cut the price of the PS3 by as much by as 17 percent last year. The cheapest model, equipped with a 40-gigabyte hard drive, now sells for $399.

Nintendo shares have fallen 39 percent this year in Osaka trading amid concern credit-related losses in the U.S. will spill over to demand for consumer electronics. Still, the company is better positioned to weather slowing economic growth worldwide than rivals because of its product line, according to Tokyo-based Mito Securities Co. analyst Yoichiro Watanabe.

Of 23 analysts tracked by Bloomberg, 15 recommend buying the stock and only one advises selling. The average 12 month share- price estimate is 73,417 yen, or 79 percent higher than the stock's close today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Pairing Success

Nintendo has benefited from its success in targeting families and pairing the Wii with software and accessories such as the Wii Fit, which allows gamers to simulate skiing and soccer on top of a motion-sensing board, Watanabe said.

``These two strategies have made Nintendo stronger than Sony and Microsoft,'' Watanabe said. ``There's no reason to cut the Wii's price as demand is strong. The macroeconomic environment is in poor shape but based on past experience, game demand will not be affected much by this.''

The Wii will continue to outsell the Xbox 360 because consumers consider game content to be more important than prices when buying a console, according to Daniel Ernst, an analyst at Soleil Securities Corp.

In August, Nintendo raised its full-year profit forecast by 26 percent, citing higher-than-anticipated sales of Wii and DS game players.

Outselling the PSP

The company forecast it will sell 30.5 million DS players, or double the number of the PlayStation Portable machines that Sony expects to sell. Sony plans to begin selling an upgraded version of the PSP in mid-October that has a built-in microphone and a screen that displays sharper images.

Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman at Nintendo, declined to comment on what the company will announce at tomorrow's briefing at 1:30 p.m.

``Chances are Nintendo will introduce home-made game titles such as a new version of the Wii Sports,'' said Naoki Fujiwara, who oversees about $720 million as chief fund manager at Tokyo- based Shinkin Asset Management Co. ``There are slight expectations Nintendo will bring out the latest episode of Dragon Quest for the DS. If it happens, it would have a big impact.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Kevin Cho in Seoul at kcho2@bloomberg.net; Yoshinori Eki in Tokyo at yeki@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 1, 2008 05:25 EDT