Sony’s next-generation portable game machine, the PlayStation Vita, will not be available in the US or Europe in time for Christmas – a crucial sales period for game console makers.

LIVE television and another installment of the Halo game are landing on Xbox 360.

BILLIONAIRE Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries has won the auction to take control of Warner Music Group Corp with an offer of $8.25 a share, the company said yesterday.

AREAS of Tokyo usually packed with office workers crammed into sushi restaurants and noodle shops were eerily quiet. Many schools were closed.

SONY CORP yesterday launched a music streaming service in a bid to boost sales of its consumer electronics and break Apple’s dominance of the online music business.

Japan’s economy grew 3.7% at an annual pace in the second quarter, signalling exports were gradually picking up after the nation’s worst recession since the end of the Second World War, the government said today.

Japanese companies remain deeply pessimistic, but confidence is starting to improve from record lows last quarter, a key central bank survey showed today.

Japan's economy has contracted at the fastest pace since 1955 as exports plunged, companies slashed production and families spent less, it was announced today.

Japan’s industrial production plunged at a record pace in January, the government said today, as collapsing overseas demand forced manufacturers to keep slashing output and jobs. Household spending and retail sales also fell.

Japan’s economy contracted at the fastest pace in 35 years in the fourth quarter as a collapse in export demand drained life from the world’s second-biggest economy.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is promising to create 1.6 million jobs over the next three years to help pull Japan out of its economic crisis.

NINTENDO announced yesterday that it will replace 3.2 million straps for its popular Wii computer game controllers after receiving a rash of reports that the device flew out of players’ hands.

JAPANESE stocks advanced for a fourth day, the longest winning stretch in three months, amid speculation the US Federal Reserve might refrain from raising interest rates.

Philips Electronics has said first quarter turnover increased by 2% to €6.631bn, as strong sales growth for chips and consumer electronics helped return the group to a profit.

Tokyo: Japanese PC makers will co-operate with authorities in Japan investigating Microsoft Corp, the world’s largest maker of PC software, for suspected violation of the anti-monopoly law.

Tech stocks extended their decline today as United States investors locked in gains following disappointing results from Computer Associates.

Chief Executive Officer of Dell Inc., Michael Dell, has said the company does not expect to make a major acquisition anytime soon.

TWENTY-five years after Elvis Presley’s death, the only child of the king of rock ‘n’ roll is launching her own musical career.

Sony Corp will shift Chinese production of camcorders bound for the US back to Japan by the end of September in an attempt to shorten the delivery time to three weeks from four weeks, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing company sources.

Ken Kutaragi, chief executive of Sony Corp unit Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, said the company has not as yet seen any major impact from the conflict between the US and Afghanistan.

Japanese electronics company Aiwa is to halve its worldwide work force to about 5,000 within the year and a factory in Wales could close, according to a report in Tokyo today.

After Wall Street was pummelled by a sell-off, stock markets in Asia fell sharply today, with heavy losses in Japan, where concern is high over how a fragile government will deal with weaknesses in the world’s second-largest economy.