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Sony challenge to Nintendo launched with PSP console

Riding on the global success of PlayStation 2 (PS2), Sony has launched its first hand-held game console to challenge rival Nin-tendo, whose Game Boy Advance monopolizes the worldwide portable game market.

PlayStation Portable (PSP) will hit the Japanese market by the end of this year and is slated to go on sale in Europe and North America by March.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc has yet to release the price for PSP although news reports estimate it will cost around US$300.

"We are confident that we can break into Nintendo's market," said spokesman Kenichi Fukunaga, speaking at this weekend's Tokyo Game Show 2004 where the PSP was the main attraction.

Sony aims to sell three million PSPs globally by next March and some 60 software markers are working to provide 105 game titles for it.

Nintendo, for its part, hopes to trump Sony with its much-hyped new Nintendo DS, short for dual-screens, which includes a "PictoChat" program that allows up to 16 DS users to chat at once.

It will go on sale in North America in November, a month ahead of its Japanese release. It is the first time a Japanese game maker has launched its latest game console abroad and analysts said it underlined the importance of foreign sales over the sluggish Japanese market.

Nintendo surprised analysts by announcing last week that Nintendo DS would cost US$149.99, US$50 less than their estimate.
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