Thursday, February 03, 2005

Sony Corp. will release its long-awaited PSP portable video game system on March 24 in North America, it said on Thursday, challenging Nintendo's more than 15-year dominance of the handheld video game market with its Game Boy and DS handhelds.

Industry insiders see the PSP as Nintendo's most serious contender yet, though the $250 PSP is targeted at an older market -- teenagers and young men -- than the $80 Game Boy Advance SP and the $150 DS. Handheld sales growth is expected to drive the $10 billion U.S. video game industry this year.

The PSP will come in a "value pack" including accessories and a copy of the movie "Spider-Man 2" on Sony's new UMD disc format, designed for the PSP and capable of holding three times the data of a traditional CD-ROM.

Sony said around 24 titles would be available in the two weeks or so around the launch, representing all of the industry's major game publishers and genres. Some of those games include "FIFA 2005," "Metal Gear Acid," "Need for Speed Rivals" and "Twisted Metal: Head On."

Sony also said it would build 1 million units for sale in North America in its current fiscal year, ending March 31.