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Nintendo counters Sony's PSP with Game Boy Micro

Nintendo Co, the world's largest maker of handheld game players, will start selling its smallest player next month as Sony Corp prepares for European sales of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) after releases in Japan and the US.

The Game Boy Micro will go on sale in Japan on Sept. 13 for ?12,000 (US$109), Nintendo said in a news release on its Web site dated yesterday. Sales of the device, about the size of a mobile phone, will start in the US later in the month and in Europe in November.

Nintendo's dominant share in the handheld game device market is threatened by Sony Corp, which will introduce its PSP in Europe next month and expects to sell 13 million units worldwide in the year ending March 31. Kyoto, Japan based-Nintendo is third in the US$6.2 billion game console market behind Sony and Microsoft Corp.

"I don't think it will be targeted where the PSP is strong, the high-tech, high-end crowd," said Jay Defibaugh, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in Tokyo. "Micro is more of a fashion item."

Game Boy Micro has the same processing power as the bigger Game Boy Advance models and plays the same 700 or more game titles, the company said. The player, small enough to fit in pants pockets, measures 10cm wide, 5cm tall and 2cm deep.
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