Sony Corp. slashed local prices for its latest hand-held game console Monday ahead of the critical yearend shopping season.
Sony said the Japanese price for the PlayStation Portable Go will drop Tuesday to ¥16,800 from ¥26,800.
The price of the PSPgo has been dropping in the United States since last week, when it fell to $199 from $250, according to Sony Computer Entertainment, the electronics giant's gaming unit.
Cutting prices ahead of Christmas is common in the gaming industry, which tends to rake in more than half of its sales during the festive shopping season.
Sony faces tough competition in portable machines from rival Nintendo Co., which makes the DS, another portable console. They are also facing off in home consoles, pitting Sony's PlayStation 3 against Nintendo's Wii.
The game machines are also competing against Apple's iPhone. The PSPgo is smaller than its predecessor and only slightly larger than an iPhone.
The PSPgo does not play the Universal Media Discs that contain PSP games and videos and were used in older versions of the machines. Instead, content is stored on the PSPgo's hard drive or memory stick. Game software is downloaded.
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