Sony to Divulge PlayStation 3 Details (AP)

LOS ANGELES - The ongoing battle for living room dominance resumes this week at the video game industry's largest annual conference.

Two days before the Electronic Entertainment Expo begins in Los Angeles, Sony Corp (NYSE: - ). was scheduled to divulge more details on its upcoming PlayStation 3 video game console in a Monday afternoon news conference at its movie studios in Culver City, Calif.

Rivals Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp., with their competing Wii and 360 systems, plan similar news conferences Tuesday.

Sony executives have touted what they claim are competitive advantages, such as the PS3's speedy "Cell" processor, the console's Blu-ray disk format for high-definition video and an online network that purportedly will include videoconferencing and micropayments.

But the PS3 already has been pushed back from a spring to a fall release, and key information such as the exact launch date, price and games lineup have yet to be announced.

In a recent report, American Technology Research predicted the PS3 will retail for $499 — $100 more than the current top-of-the-line Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 got an early start on the next-generation console wars and has sold 3.2 million units worldwide since it was released in November. But until recently, Microsoft has been unable to meet demand.

Pricing and other details also are sketchy on Nintendo's Wii (pronounced "We"), which uses a unique TV-style remote controller that can be waved around to manipulate action on the screen.

This year's E3 conference comes with the industry in financial turmoil as it transitions from older systems to the new consoles. Much of it has been blamed on consumers' desire to hold out for the PS3 and Wii.

The period has been especially brutal for key game makers like Electronic Arts Inc., which recently lost $16 million, or 5 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter. EA predicted video game sales industrywide would be flat to down 5 percent in 2006.

According to market research firm NPD Group, overall video game sales dropped 5 percent to $7 billion in the United States last year.

During last year's E3, Sony executives proudly showed pretty video clips of supposed PS3 games but very little in the way of actual game play. The same was true for the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360.

Expect a more hands-on approach this year, with attendees finally getting a chance to play games on the new systems, said Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, which organizes E3.

"You'll be able to kick the tires and see what's under the hood," he said. "It's no longer about specs. This is about performance, this is about `What do you have to show me?'"

___

On the Net:

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/