Sony unveils improved PSP-3000

2 September 2008 02:34pm

Sales are improving in Japan for Sony Corp's PlayStation Portable handheld video game machine, and a beefed up version with a clearer display is expected to add momentum, a senior executive said.

The portable game machine faces tough competition from Nintendo DS -- the handheld machine from the Japanese manufacturer of Pokemon and Super Mario games. Nintendo also has a big hit in the Wii home console that Is battering Sony's PlayStation 3 in sales.

The revamped PlayStation Portable with the improved liquid crystal display and a built-in microphone will go on sale October 16 in Japan at the same price of the previous model 19,800 yen (£102), said Shawn Layden, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan.

The machine called PSP-3000 is also being promised for the US and Europe next month.

Layden said the PSP was gaining popularity in Japan, nearly doubling in sales for this year's first eight months compared to the previous year. People are increasingly using it to listen to music, watch video and access the Internet on the go, he said at a Tokyo hotel.

"The PlayStation Portable can be called a PlayStation Personal," he told reporters. "It has become a lifestyle tool for owners."

Sony also unveiled a service planned for later this year in Japan that will allow several PSP machines to play games together, even if they aren't in the same room, by connecting to the Internet through PlayStation 3 machines.

Competition among game makers is intensifying ahead of the year-end shopping season.

Sony has sold about 41 million PSP machines globally -- 10 million in Japan. Nintendo has sold 77.5 million Nintendo DS handheld devices worldwide, nearly 23 million in Japan.

On top of that, Nintendo has scored success with its predecessor GameBoy series, selling more than a 100 million GameBoys cumulative worldwide.

© The Press Association