SONY Corp. introduced a handheld videogame player without a disk drive to compete against Nintendo Co.’s top-selling DS and meet the threat posed by Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch.

The PSP Go, using a flash drive instead of storage hardware, is 50-percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the PSP 3000, Kaz Hirai, who heads Tokyo-based Sony’s game and network business, said at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. The company also is developing a motion-sensing controller to challenge Nintendo’s Wii.

The new handheld, available on October 1 in the US and Europe, steps up competition with Nintendo and Apple using wireless capability that lets users download games, music and video. Sony also lowered the cost of software kits outsiders use to build programs for PSP—hoping to win over developers as Apple has.

Consumers have bought more than 100 million DS players, versus 50 million PSPs and 37 million iPhone and iPod Touch units.

Sony also showed the planned controller being developed for the PlayStation 3 console, and said it plans to release the device in the US spring of 2010.

Wii’s motion-sensitive controller has helped Nintendo dominate the current generation of video-game consoles. Users can wave it at fastballs in simulated baseball games, or play tennis holding the device in their hand like a racket.

The company introduced new versions of its Super Mario Bros. and Wii Fit titles. The fitness game is an example of nontraditional titles that have helped Nintendo attract new users to the videogame market.

“Ideally, it is still possible to create products that satisfy advanced players and novice players simultaneously,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said at the E3.

Nintendo, based in Kyoto, Japan, also plans a Wii Vitality Sensor that can count users’ heartbeats from their fingertip—an example, Iwata said, of products the company can use to keep adding customers.

Microsoft Corp. recently introduced motion-sensing camera technology that will let Xbox 360 users play games without a controller. It also announced new features for the Xbox Live system that let users play games against one another online, rent movies from Netflix Inc. or use social-networking sites like Facebook Inc. or Twitter Inc.

Sony didn’t announce a price cut for the $399.99 PlayStation 3, a move that video-game makers and retailers have said would spur industry growth. Sony has sold more than 22.7 million PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide, trailing the more than 50 million Wii units sold by Nintendo and more than 30 million Xbox 360 systems sold by Microsoft.

The PSP Go handheld won’t replace the existing PSP, Hirai said. The new player will cost $249 in the US, €249 euros ($357) in Europe, and ¥26,800 ($280) in Japan, where it will start selling on November 1. The product will have 16 gigabytes of memory.

Apple began selling the iPhone and iPod Touch in 2007. Both gadgets run games and other software programs the company distributes through the App Store on its website.

Developers have written more than 35,000 applications since the store went live in July 2008. Apple takes a 30-percent cut of each program sold to cover expenses and says more than 1 billion apps have been downloaded. Apple plans to release a new version of the operating system software for iPhone in coming months that adds more than 100 new features.

Apple sells two versions of the iPhone, starting with an 8-gigabyte model for $199. There are 8-gigabyte, 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte versions of the iPod Touch, with prices ranging from $229 to $399. Both have Wi-Fi connections. (Bloomberg)