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'Game over for Microsoft'
19/05/2005 11:38 - (SA)
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| Ken Kutaragi, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, holds up a prototype of the Playsation 3. (Kevork Djansezian, AP)
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Los Angeles - Japanese giant Sony said on Wednesday that despite coming later to the bout, its newly unveiled PlayStation 3 games console packs enough punch to deliver a knock-out blow to Microsoft's rival offering.
Kaz Hirai, the charismatic boss of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said after it was unveiled at an industry expo here late on Tuesday that the details of the new PlayStation's product launch were still being worked out.
In an interview with the CNBC network, Hirai denied that Sony had already decided to start selling the console only in Japan next spring, before releasing it in North America in the autumn.
"We haven't determined which territory we will go with first this time around just yet," he said.
"We will have to look at development and how things are coming along in terms of manufacture and all the other logistical things to determine which territory or multiple territories go first."
Microsoft plans to put its new Xbox 360, which had its first public sighting last week, on sale worldwide this Christmas, stealing a march on the latest offerings from Sony and smaller Japanese rival Nintendo.
But Hirai said that head-start would prove immaterial, noting that Nintendo had been first with its two previous consoles and yet Sony still dominated the lucrative games market.
"It is not being first in marketing, it is being able to provide a content palette that is going to grow the business," he said, confident that Sony has a loyal enough following and enough games titles to fend off the Xbox challenge.
"We have had a leadership position in the past 10 years and come up against a different variety of companies in the space," Hirai said.
"We've always been in a leadership position and with the content support that we are getting from all of our third-party publishing partners, and the technology we pack into PlayStation 3, I'm confident we will keep that position another 10 years."
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