PlayStation 3 to be shown off in May

TOKYO - Sony expects to show off a working version of its next-generation PlayStation video game console at a trade show next May, it says, increasing pressure on Microsoft to take the wraps off its Xbox successor by that time.

Sony's game-business head Ken Kutaragi said the consumer electronics company plans to unveil the new console at next year's E3, the annual video-game trade show scheduled to take place from May 18 to 20 in Los Angeles.

"There has been some talk that development is not going well, but we expect to have a playable version at E3. We are pushing ahead with that schedule in mind," Kutaragi told a meeting of developers, suppliers and media.

Kutaragi did not mention a launch date for the new console, expected to be called the PlayStation 3 or PS3, but company officials said it may follow a similar timetable to market as its predecessor, the PlayStation 2, which went on sale in Japan almost a year after it was first displayed.

Analysts said they expected the PS3 to be released for sale to US consumers sometime in 2006.

"I would still expect a 2006 launch, at this point," said Schwab SoundView Technology Group analyst Colin Sebastian. "

The PS2 had a head start of about a year on its competitors, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube, and has a worldwide installed base far larger than the other two combined.

STAGE SET FOR 2005

Next year's E3 could be the stage for a showdown of new consoles. Nintendo has already pledged to take the wraps off its new game machine, code-named "Revolution," at that time.

"The ball is now in Microsoft's court to make the next move," Sebastian said. "If Sony is going to be showing the PS3 at E3 next year, then undoubtedly Microsoft and Nintendo will want to be there showing theirs as well."

Microsoft officials have repeatedly said that the software company's new game machine, dubbed "Xbox Next" by media, would not be beaten to market by Sony. There has been speculation that Microsoft could put a more tangible time frame on the console as soon as this month, when it reports fiscal 2004 results.

"It looks like Microsoft is fairly advanced at the moment. The company might have gotten wrong-footed a bit, but it looks like everything is going to turn up at the same time," said Hiroshi Kamide, analyst at KBC Securities in Tokyo.

"One thing is for sure: This will change the landscape of the industry significantly," said Kamide.

OVERSHADOWING PSP

Sony's next-generation console will be powered by its "Cell" microprocessor being developed with IBM and Toshiba as the consumer electronics industry's answer to Intel's Pentium computer processor.

The Cell chip is being billed as 10 times more powerful than conventional semiconductors, with the ability to shepherd large chunks of information through a high-speed internet network.

Kutaragi's comments on the new console formed the buzz of a briefing that was expected to flag the release of another new Sony game machine, PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Known as the father of the PlayStation, Kutaragi stood by Sony's target to offer the PSP -- its first handheld game machine -- in Japan before year-end and to launch it in Europe and the United States by March 31.

Some analysts have said those launch dates are unrealistic because of delays encountered in development, but Kutaragi unveiled an even loftier goal.

"We've come to the point when there is a PlayStation for almost every television. It's our dream for there to be a PSP for every person," Kutaragi told reporters after the briefing.