The man who created Sony's legendary PlayStation games console has retired from the company.

Honorary chairman Ken Kutaragi announced his departure as rival Nintendo released figures showing big profits.

Nintendo posted net profits of ¥174.29bn (£0.73bn) in the 12 months to March 2007, up from ¥98.38bn a year earlier.

Sony's PlayStation launched in 1994 and proved a big hit with gamers, as did the follow up PlayStation 2 in 1999.

However, the PlayStation 3 has been hit by delays and technical problems and has not proved popular with consumers because of its high price tag.