TOKYO
(AP) — Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation Vita portable game machine hit stores in
Japan on Saturday as thousands of game enthusiasts lined up early in the
morning to be among the first to buy it.
Sony
Computer Entertainment Inc. is predicting brisk sales, even though the launch
may have missed some holiday shoppers. A successful debut would help the
company offset the rest of its struggling business. Sony projects a loss of
more than $1 billion for the fiscal year through March 2012, which would be its
fourth straight annual loss.
In
Tokyo’s Ikebukuro shopping district, some 300 game enthusiasts lined up outside
a major electronics chain that opened a few hours earlier than usual for the
event. Many of the purchasers had made advance orders on the Internet so they could
start playing immediately.
The
device is a touch-interface and motion-sensitive handheld seen as a successor
to the PlayStation Portable. Gamers can connect over cellphone networks and
Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-tracking technology.
Television
footage showed some shoppers unwrapping their new purchases and starting to try
them out at the store.
“I’m
so happy to see so many people lining up for PS Vita so early in the
morning,” Sony Computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi Kono wrote
in his official blog after touring several Tokyo stores. “I can tell they
had anxiously waited for today’s launch.”
For
the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant, the Vita is the biggest
product launch since the PlayStation 3 console five years ago. It’s also
accompanied by two dozen software products — the largest number of launch
titles in PlayStation history.
The
Vita has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a touch pad on the
back and two knob-like joysticks. It will enable gamers to play against each
other using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internet-based PlayStation Network,
a system that was hit with a massive hacking attack earlier this year.
Vita’s
launch will heat up competition with rival Nintendo Co.’s 3DS. Nintendo Co.’s
3DS had a disappointing start despite the company’s efforts to market its 3-D
technology, with critics complaining about a lack of interesting games.
Nintendo ended up slashing prices on the 3DS within six months.
The
companies are challenged by the rise of smartphones and tablets, through which
casual gamers play inexpensive and simple games like the mega-hit “Angry
Birds.”
The
PS Vita goes on sale in North America and Europe on Feb. 22.