In just over a year, Nintendo's Wii-based online Virtual Console service has netted over 3.5 billion yen ($31.7 million USD) in revenue.

Using the Virtual Console portion of the Wii Shop Channel, gamers can purchase and download retro classics from a variety of older video game systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16. In all, the service has accumulated more than 7.8 million downloads, and new titles are added each week.

The figures, as reported by IGN, were disclosed at a press conference in which the company discussed its recent teaming with Japanese internet provider NTT to promote the Wii's internet connectivity.

"We're currently unsure if this is a lot or low," said Nintendo executive Shinji Hatano. "They're not bad figures."

Nintendo plans to begin offering original downloadable titles--a la Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3's PlayStation Store--through the WiiWare portion of the online store in early 2008.