Strong US sales of PlayStation 2 helped Sony's third-quarter profits beat expectations.
The company has also posted record quarterly group sales and said its performance was boosted by the weakness of the yen.
Sony made a third quarter pre-tax profit of €1.01 billion (or 119.3 billion yen), down from €1.14 billion (133.4 billion yen) last time. Sales rose to 2.3 trillion yen - around €19.4 billion - from 2.11 trillion yen the previous quarter.
The company has raised its operating profit forecast for the full year to 130 billion yen, from 120 billion yen.
It said: "Sony achieved the largest quarterly consolidated sales in its history and a 10 per cent increase in operating income from the third quarter of the previous year.
"The Japanese yen was weaker against the US dollar and euro compared with the third quarter of the previous year. This development benefited sales and operating income," Sony said. In the game business, due to strong sales of PS2 hardware and software, sales increased significantly". Sony added: "Further cost reductions of PS2 hardware also contributed to 66.4 billion yen of operating income, compared with a loss in the third quarter of the previous year".
BNP Paribas senior analyst Mr Masayuki Yonezawa said: "The so-called "cocooning" by US consumers after the terrorist attacks apparently contributed to the strong sales of PS2 consoles as well as software".
PA