A Nintendo DS Lite. Japan's fair trade watchdog raided Sharp Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. on Thursday on suspicion of limiting competition by fixing prices of displays for portable game consoles such as the DS Lite, officials said.

Japan's fair trade watchdog raided Sharp Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. on Thursday on suspicion of limiting competition by fixing prices of displays for portable game consoles, officials said.

Officials of the Fair Trade Commission inspected offices and outlets of Sharp and Hitachi Displays Ltd., Hitachi Ltd.'s wholly-owned subsidiary, company officials said.

"It is true that the Fair Trade Commission is doing an on-the-spot inspection on our company, but we are still trying to confirm further details," said a spokeswoman for Sharp.

There was no immediate comment from the commission.

Local media said the two companies were suspected of rigging prices of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for Nintendo's popular portable DS game consoles.

Nintendo confirmed that Sharp and Hitachi Display are currently the only suppliers of the three-inch (7.5-centimeter) panel for Nintendo DS and DS Lite consoles.

"But we are not aware of the reported allegations," a Nintendo spokesman said, adding that it was not known if the company filed a complaint with the watchdog about the alledged bid-rigging.

Nintendo has sold 64.79 million of the portable game consoles since they were first launched in 2004.

© 2008 AFP