Sony unveils the PSP Go

Sony's new handheld gaming device, the PSP Go, has been unveiled in Los Angeles.

The PSP Go will be on sale in Europe and North America from October and is priced at £214.

Sony will hope to go head to head with its Japanese rival Nintendo, which launched the DSi, its similar-sized portable games device in April.

"It's a 3.8-inch screen, it's 43 per cent lighter than the PSP-3000, 16GB flash memory, Bluetooth support and all digital content so the UMD drive goes away," John Koller of Sony said.

Sony also demonstrated its prototype hands-free game controller for the Sony PlayStation at the E3 games conference.

The motion controller for PS3 is the second hands-free innovation in as many days. Yesterday Microsoft demonstrated its new system for the Xbox 360, codenamed Project Natal.

Sony's new controller works in conjunction with Sony Eye. From a sensor that sits on top of the TV it can detect position, distance and movement.



Sony stressed it was only in demo mode, but said the system would be available early next year.

The Motion Controller for PS3 works in a similar way to Nintendo's Wii controller. A sensor sits on top of the TV and detects the position, distance and movement of two controllers held in a user's hand.