Sony's smaller PS2 takes aim at Nintendo
New game console weighs half as much as the current PlayStation 2 and is a quarter of its size.
The device will cost $149.
Sony kept mum on the price and launch date of its long-awaited PlayStation Portable (PSP).
The company also said it plans a Nov. 1 launch in Europe for the new version of the PS2, which weighs half as much as the current PS2 and is a quarter of its size. The European price will be 149 euros ($181).
A release in Japan is set for Nov. 3 with an open price. Sony's regular PS2 is priced at around 20,000 yen ($182).
"We have seen a strong sales increase after PlayStation was remodeled into PSone. We expect the new model to help boost the game market," said Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertaiment, Sony's game arm.
Nintendo had struck the first blow an hour earlier Tuesday, aggressively pricing its new dual-screen model at $149 and setting the game console's U.S. launch date for Nov 21.
In a bid to keep the dominance its popular GameBoy Advance machines have given it in the handheld market, Nintendo set the price for the "DS" dual-screen handheld console at the bottom end of analysts' expectations.
"It was the lowest of my estimated price range," said Takeshi Tajima, an analyst at BNP Paribas.
Following the U.S. launch, Nintendo, known for games featuring characters such as Pokemon, Mario and Donkey Kong, plans to start selling the DS in Japan on Dec. 2 at 15,000 yen ($137), compared with 9,800 yen for Game Boy Advance SP.
Nintendo also raised its shipment forecast of the DS machine worldwide by the end of next March to around 4 million units from its May forecast of 3.5 million units.
The DS has two screens, one of which is touch-sensitive, and can play games from the current Game Boy Advance series.
Nintendo has had a virtual monopoly in handheld game devices with about a 95 percent market share, but Sony is threatening to cut into its market with the PSP, which promises advanced features such as a music and movie player.
"My simple prediction is that Sony will expand the market by about 1.5-fold by appealing to a different age group--above 20 years old--from Nintendo's focus, which is young children," said Tajima. "Then both Nintendo and Sony will each have half of the market."
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