Apple
The PSP Go, using a flash drive instead of storage hardware, is 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the PSP 3000, Kaz Hirai, who heads Tokyo-based Sonys game and network business, said yesterday at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. The company also is developing a motion-sensing controller to challenge Nintendos Wii.
The new handheld, available Oct. 1 in the U.S. and Europe, steps up competition with Nintendo and Apple using wireless capability that lets users download games, music and video. Sony also lowered the cost of software kits outsiders use to build programs for PSP — hoping to win over developers as Apple has. Consumers have bought more than 100 million DS players, versus 50 million PSPs and 37 million iPhone and iPod Touch units.
Sony also showed the planned controller being developed for the PlayStation 3 console, and said it plans to release the device in the U.S. spring of 2010.
Wiis motion-sensitive controller has helped Nintendo dominate the current generation of video-game consoles. Users can wave it at fastballs in simulated baseball games, or play tennis holding the device in their hand like a racket.
The company introduced new versions of its “Super Mario Bros.” and “Wii Fit” titles. The fitness game is an example of non-traditional titles that have helped Nintendo attract new users to the video-game market.
“Ideally, it is still possible to create products that satisfy advanced players and novice players simultaneously,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said yesterday at E3.
Vitality Sensor
Nintendo, based in Kyoto, Japan, also plans a Wii Vitality Sensor that can count users heartbeats from their fingertip — an example, Iwata said, of products the company can use to keep adding customers.
This week, Microsoft Corp. introduced motion-sensing camera technology that will let Xbox 360 users play games without a controller. It also announced new features for the Xbox Live system that let users play games against one another online, rent movies from Netflix Inc. or use social-networking sites like Facebook Inc. or Twitter Inc.
Sony didnt announce a price cut for the $399.99 PlayStation 3, a move that video-game makers and retailers have said would spur industry growth. Sony has sold more than 22.7 million PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide, trailing the more than 50 million Wii units sold by Nintendo and more than 30 million Xbox 360 systems sold by Microsoft.
PSP Go
Sony rose 66 cents to $28 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, and has climbed 28 percent this year.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, and the worlds largest software maker, was unchanged at $21.40 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and has climbed 10 percent this year. Apple, of Cupertino, California, rose 14 cents to $139.49 and has gained 63 percent this year.
Nintendo fell 130 yen to 26,420 yen yesterday in Osaka.
Apple began selling the iPhone and iPod Touch in 2007. Both gadgets run games and other software programs the company distributes through the App Store on its Web site.
Developers have written more than 35,000 applications since the store went live in July 2008. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of each program sold to cover expenses and says more than 1 billion apps have been downloaded. Apple plans to release a new version of the operating system software for iPhone in coming months that adds more than 100 new features.
Apple sells two versions of the iPhone, starting with an 8- gigabyte model for $199. There are 8-gigabyte, 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte versions of the iPod Touch, with prices ranging from $229 to $399. Both have Wi-Fi connections.