Sony said yesterday that PlayStation 3 game machine sales had totaled 1.2 million in North America during the holiday season, boosting the strength of the company's Blu-ray video format because the console also works as a Blu-ray player.
Competition is intense among the latest video game machines -- pitting Sony Corp against Nintendo Co and Microsoft Corp. Competition is also fierce between two of the latest video formats -- Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Although both formats deliver better image quality than the DVDs more common today, one format is expected to emerge the winner and attracting movie studios to the format is critical for making the format widespread.
Sony can hope to gain more sales in its core electronics products, including Blu-ray recorders and high-definition flat-panel TVs, if consumers choose Blu-ray.
That could also aid it in its struggle against the popularity of the Wii machine from Nintendo, which went on sale about the same time as the PS3, attracting newcomers with easy-to-play games that use a wandlike remote-controller.
"The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008," said Jack Tretton, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America.
"The strong PS3 sales also further establish Blu-ray's dominant position as the high-definition medium of choice for games and movies," he said in a statement.
The rival HD DVD movie disc format, backed by Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp, was dealt a potentially fatal blow by the weekend defection of Warner Bros Entertainment to Blu-ray.
Just two major US studios now support only HD DVD -- Viacom's Paramount Pictures, which also owns DreamWorks SKG, and Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric.
Sony Computer Entertainment, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company's game unit, also said yesterday that sales of the PlayStation Portable handheld reached 1.4 million in North America during the Nov. 23 to Dec. 31 holiday shopping period.
Including sales of 1.3 million for PlayStation 2, PS3's predecessor, retail sales of the three PlayStation machines combined reached more than 3.9 million in North America, Tokyo-based Sony said.
Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said Wii sales numbers weren't available for the same period in the US. Wii was one of the hottest holiday gifts and its North American sales are likely to have been booming.
Nintendo said previously it had shipped 13.2 million units worldwide of the Wii by October. It expects to sell a cumulative 23 million Wiis by March 31.
In a tie-up that could help sales, Sony said yesterday that PlayStation Portable users worldwide would be able to make calls through the popular Internet-based phone service, eBay Inc's Skype, starting later this month.
The PSP must be the latest model released in September and download of special software and a microphone would be needed. Users would also have to sign up for the Skype service, which provides free calls to other Skype users.
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