Sony: Improved Financials, 'Around 10' Wand Games Expected

Sony's been looking forward to its first profit in more than a year in its third quarter thanks in part to surging PlayStation 3 sales, according to media reports. In fact, a Reuters report citing Japan's Nikkei newspaper expects Sony's overall profit to reach 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) for the October-December quarter, which would exceed analyst expectations of 74.2 billion yen. Nikkei did also note that "strong sales of LCD TVs and payroll cuts and consolidation of facilities" under Sony CEO Howard Stringer also contributed to the company's financial improvement, however. Sony hopes that its PlayStation 3 motion device, when it launches this fall, will provide further growth and longevity to the PS3 platform. The Nikkei also reported on the company's efforts to arrange a "robust" launch software lineup for the yet-unnamed device. According to a translation of that report from Andriasang, Sony will release "around 10 or so" titles for the motion controller within the year, including sports games and pet-raising games. In an effort to bolster that launch lineup, Sony recently shifted its original plan to launch the device in spring ahead, moving it into fall. This puts it into the same release window as rival Microsoft's Project Natal, but it also provides more time for software development.