Greenpeace: Game Over for Microsoft, Nintendo

In the sixth edition of Greenpeace International's "Guide to Greener Electronics," Microsoft, Nintendo, Philips and Sharp enter at the bottom of the ranking of environmental performance. The report has been expanded to include televisions and game consoles and ranks the manufacturers on their toxic chemicals and recycling policies.

Nintendo is the first company to score zero out of a possible 10 points. This is largely due to the Wii maker's failure to provide information to consumers on the substances it uses in manufacturing its products. Philips and Microsoft performed slightly better, scoring only 2 and 2.7, respectively.

"While it's encouraging to see Sharp and Microsoft providing timelines for the complete elimination of vinyl plastic (PVC) and all brominated flame retardants (BFRs) across their entire product range, makers of TVs and computer games have a long way to go," Iza Kruszewska, toxics campaigner at Greenpeace International, said in a statement.

Sony Ericsson and Samsung were at the top of the ranking, coming in at a comfortable 7.7 points each. However, no company was awarded a perfect score.

Microsoft came in at number 16. The company was judged on its Xbox game console and Zune MP3 player. It lost points for only promising to eliminate toxic chemicals no sooner than 2011. Microsoft also failed to meet Greenpeace's recycling requirement for obsolete products.

The game consoles sector shipped 62.7 million units in 2006. The reported growth of 14.9 percent in the year made it one of the fastest developing sectors in the field of electronic products.