Sony Corp said sales in Japan of the new version of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) game gear reached 1 million units in the two months since its launch, hitting the 1 million mark at a quicker pace than the original model.

It took additional two weeks for Sony to sell 1 million units of the original PSPs three years ago.

The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment group launched a lighter and slimmer model of the PSP in Japan on September 20 to better compete with Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) hot-selling DS by attracting women as well as core male gamers.

Sony aims to sell 10 million units of the PSP worldwide in the year ending March 2008, while Nintendo targets DS sales of 28 million units.

Sony competes with Nintendo in the portable video game market, while it is locked in a three-way battle with Nintendo and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in the console game industry.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by David Holmes)

Electronics Sony Japan Nintendo