bBy Daniel Emery/bbr /BBC technology reporter, Los Angelesbr /ppimg src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45860000/jpg/_45860360_007430844-2.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt="Kazuo Hirai displays the Sony a href="http://uk.playstation.com/psp/"PSP/a Go at a href="http://e3insider.com/"E3/a in LA, 2 June" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"/pp class="first"bSony has unveiled its new handheld gaming device, the PSP Go, at the E3 video games conference in Los Angeles./bpVideo and photos of the PSP Go were leaked online before the official announcement, revealing a lighter, slimmer console. /ppquot;We call it the worst-kept secret of E3,quot; said Sony Computer Entertainment chief, Kazuo Hirai, at the launch. /ppThe new handheld is seen by many as a direct rival to Nintendo's DSi, which went on sale in April this year. /ppSpeaking to the BBC, Mr Hirai said they had got quot;a good buzzquot; from the launch and did not think the leaks had done any harm. /ppquot;Once information leaks out, it goes out like wildfire, but everyone got really excited by the possibilities,quot; he said. /ppb'Price shock'/b/ppSony says the PSP Go will go on sale in October and cost #128;249 (pound;214) in Europe and $249 (pound;149) in North America. /pp/pp /quot;iGames content for the PSP is an area lacking in terms of third party supportquot;/ibr /bPiers Harding-Rolls br/ Senior analyst, Screen Digest/bbr /br /pquot;The price was a bit of a shock, especially given the current economic climate,quot; Piers Harding-Rolls, senior analyst with Screen Digest, told the BBC. /ppquot;I would say it is a challenge to the potential of the platform, but also reflects the internal climate Sony faces,quot; he said. /ppThe news of PSP Go was already widely known after an official video showcasing the new device was mistakenly posted to a Sony website before being hurriedly pulled prior to the official launch. /ppIn the video, Sony's John Koller gave an accurate breakdown of the devices capabilities. /ppquot;It's a 3.8-inch screen, it's 43% lighter than the PSP-3000, 16 gigs flash memory, Bluetooth support and all digital content so the UMD drive goes away,quot; he said. /ppSony also announced a number of new games at the event for both PSP and PS3, including Little Big Planet, Motorstorm, Metal Gear Solid, God of War III, and Final Fantasy XIV. /ppbExperimental approach/b/ppThe firm also said that it was reducing by 80% the cost of PSP developer kits - the tools external companies require before they can produce software that will work on the PSP operating system - to encourage third party developers to produce more games for the handheld device./ppimg src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45860000/jpg/_45860371_007430843-1.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt=" Sony PSP Go " border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"/ppquot;Games content for the PSP is an area lacking in terms of third party support, and arguably first party support, although that appears to be changing,quot; said Mr Harding-Rolls. /ppSony executive Kazuo Hirai said that, for now, the company would not be giving the toolkits away for free. /ppquot;[The toolkit] is part of the ecosystem we create for the development community. But we like to think it's part of the business model we have in place,quot; he said. /ppSony stressed that all of the games available for the PSP Go would be available for direct download. /ppMr Harding-Rolls said Sony was developing a different approach to the marketing and purchase of games: quot;It underlines Sony's more aggressive and experimental approach to digital distribution opportunities.quot; /ppquot;The fact Sony went out of its way to reiterate where the PSP is going - the differences from other handhelds, third party content, digital distribution - just highlights the fact that it is a unique device and a solid commercial opportunity in its own right,quot; he said./phrpThis article is from the a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk"BBC News website/a. #169; British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites./pdiv class="feedflare"
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