The Japanese game giant, Sony Corp., on Thursday announced its plans to launch at least 380 new game titles for its PlayStation 3 gaming console, a move to boost up the sales of its next-generation console which is continuously losing its market share to Nintendo company’s wildly popular gaming console, Wii.

PS3 is Sony Computer Entertainment's third video game console and the successor to the 7-year-old PlayStation 2. It competes with Xbox 360 and Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

Speaking at the annual shareholders' meeting in Tokyo on Thursday, Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer said the new PlayStation 3 games are expected to hit the worldwide market this fiscal year.

The new gaming titles will compliment PS3’s current catalogue of 150 games, including online titles.

“We are increasing the number of games this year and proceeding with reduction of hardware costs'' to turn the business again lucrative, CEO Stringer said. “PlayStation 3 is important for Sony's future and we intend to make it a success.”

This year in March, Sony announced its plans to soon do away with a key microchip from the European version of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console, which will help cut down on production costs and also reduce its compatibility with older generation games.

Stringer, the first non-Japanese to head Sony, also said that Sony's integrated and global approach to electronics, games and entertainment made it a "dominant company" in the digital age. "We will shift Sony from recovery to profitable growth," Stringer said to about 7,000 shareholders in the meeting.

Launched on November 17, 2006 in North America in two different configurations, a $600 Premium model with a 60GB hard drive and a $500 Basic version with a 20GB hard drive, Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming device faces fierce competition from rival video game consoles including Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360, which both have a much lower price tag.

Both Basic and Premium PS3 models have much of the same hardware inside. Besides the higher hard drive capacity what makes the 60GB console superior are built-in wireless support, slots for memory sticks and other storage media.

Sony has enjoyed an iron grip on the video game console market with its two previous PlayStation models, PlayStation (1994) and PlayStation 2 (2000). The combined units sold for the two models recorded a high of over 200 million units globally.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, the three companies are locked in a fierce battle for dominance in the $13 billion U.S. video game market, and for the moment, Sony is lagging behind both of its competitors in terms of sales. Among the trio of next generation gaming consoles, Nintendo has emerged as the numero uno in sales.

According to latest sales results provided by NPD, US gamers bought 360,000 units of the wii console in April, making it the best-selling video game console in the country.

The more-powerful systems, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lagged behind in the fierce battle for dominance in the booming gaming consoles market by moving 82,000 and 174,000 units, respectively.

Nintendo sold 436,000 Wii video game consoles in January, while Xbox 360 sold 294,000 and Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 244,000 units. In February, US gamers bought 335,000 Wii consoles and 228,000 of Microsoft's Xbox 360, while Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles managed 127,000 units. In March, Nintendo shipped 259,000 Wii video game consoles, while Microsoft and Sony managed 199,000 and 130,000 units, respectively.

The world's biggest maker of video-game consoles, Sony is also a leading manufacturer of electronics, video, communications and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.

Sony shares fell 100 yen, or 1.5 percent, to 6,520 yen on Thursday in the Tokyo Stock Exchange.