Sony, Nintendo Wow Games Fans

LOS ANGELES – Sony Corp. threw down the gauntlet to handheld video game leader Nintendo Co Ltd on Tuesday, unveiling its new PlayStation Portable (PSP) with far-reaching multimedia capabilities.

Not to be outdone, Nintendo took the wraps off its own new portable game machine, the dual-screened DS that promises to intensify a budding war in the handheld game market. “PSP will enter an already crowded marketplace, but one with many opportunities,” Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, told a packed audience at a downtown studio complex here.At stake is a market that Jupiter Research forecast this week would grow from US$1,6 billion in revenue in 2003 to US$2,7 billion by 2009.Both DS and PSP offer wireless connectivity for multiplayer gaming and feature bright, wide screens.Games on the PSP are almost as high quality as on Sony’s PlayStation 2 console and the device also plays music and DVD-quality movies.Nintendo’s DS features two screens, one of which is touch-sensitive, and can play games from its current Game Boy Advance series.Kyoto-based Nintendo’s success against other machines, often more technically advanced than the Game Boy, relies heavily on alluring software franchises such as Pokemon and Mario.The PSP is the most significant hardware release in four years for Sony’s game business, which accounts for two-thirds of the conglomerate’s profit and has helped offset heavy losses from its mainstay electronics business.- Nampa-AFP”PSP will enter an already crowded marketplace, but one with many opportunities,” Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, told a packed audience at a downtown studio complex here.At stake is a market that Jupiter Research forecast this week would grow from US$1,6 billion in revenue in 2003 to US$2,7 billion by 2009.Both DS and PSP offer wireless connectivity for multiplayer gaming and feature bright, wide screens.Games on the PSP are almost as high quality as on Sony’s PlayStation 2 console and the device also plays music and DVD-quality movies.Nintendo’s DS features two screens, one of which is touch-sensitive, and can play games from its current Game Boy Advance series.Kyoto-based Nintendo’s success against other machines, often more technically advanced than the Game Boy, relies heavily on alluring software franchises such as Pokemon and Mario.The PSP is the most significant hardware release in four years for Sony’s game business, which accounts for two-thirds of the conglomerate’s profit and has helped offset heavy losses from its mainstay electronics business.- Nampa-AFP