Sony Sets Portable Game-Player Rollout

Updated from 4:30 p.m. EST

Sony (SNE Quote) released some more details Thursday on what it hopes will be its Next Big Thing: its new PlayStation Portable game system.

The new handheld device will make its debut in the U.S. and Canada on March 24 at a price of about $250, the company announced on Thursday. Sony will offer the device as part of a "value pack" that includes a memory stick, headphones and battery pack.

By the end of the company's fiscal year on March 31, Sony plans to have manufactured 1 million of the devices for the North American market. However, a Sony representative did not know how many of those the company will have shipped by the launch date or by the end of the company's fiscal year. ...