Sony to Sell Portable Version of PlayStation

Sony Corp. said its PlayStation Portable hand-held console will debut in the U.S. on March 24, marking the Tokyo company’s entry into an arena dominated thus far by Japanese rival Nintendo Co.

Sony plans to sell the PSP for $249, bundled with headphones, a remote control and a copy of Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man 2” movie in a new, proprietary Sony format known as Universal Media Disc -- a small, DVD-like storage medium that can be played only on a PSP.

Sony also is “putting the finishing touches” on plans to put out more movies on UMD within the next few months, said Kazuo Hirai, head of Sony’s U.S. PlayStation business.

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Alex Pham