Lara Croft, the curvaceous character who bucked the trend for male videogame heroes, is soon to make her debut on Nintendo’s Wii, the hugely successful console aimed at “noncore gamers”.

SCi Entertainment, the publisher behind the Lara Croft Tomb Raider franchise, confirmed yesterday that a Wii version of the game is “well into development” and is expected this year – the tenth anniversary of Croft’s debut.

The decision to launch her this year on the Wii but not Sony’s rival PlayStation 3 could provide a further boost for Nintendo. The Wii, which has shipped more than six million units in the five months since its launch, is estimated to be selling at twice the rate of PS3.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversarywill be available on PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s Windows PCs from June 1. A version for Sony’s handheld PSP device will follow and the Wii release date is expected shortly.

The Wii’s Wiimote, the machine’s “magic-wand” controller, and a “nunchuck” device will “allow Wii gamers to control Lara in brand new, unique ways”, Britain’s largest computer games publisher promised.

This year, SCi said that strong sales of Tomb Raider games had helped put the group on course for annual pretax profits of £30 million, up from £23 million a year earlier. Analysts also welcomed SCi’s decision to release more games aimed at younger players.

SCi bought Eidos, the Tomb Raider publisher, in 2005, an acquisition that has helped to boost SCi’s revenues sevenfold over the past two years. This year, SCi forged a deal with Time Warner, the American media giant, which took a 10 per cent stake in the games group. It gives SCi licensing agreements to develop games based on Warner brands such as Batman and Looney Tunes.

Shares in SCi were up 4 per cent at 488¾p in London yesterday.