Danny Puff

NEW YORK (AP) Sony is unveiled its next-generation gaming system, PlayStation 4, at an event in New York, saying the console will be part of a new ecosystem focused on hardware, software and services.

The console is Sony Corp.'s first major game console since the PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006.

Wednesday's unveiling is an attempt to give Sony the spotlight on video games, at least until Microsoft Corp. unveils the next Xbox in June, as expected, at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles.

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NEW YORK (AP) Sony unveiled its next-generation gaming system, the PlayStation 4, at a New York event Wednesday evening.

The development gives the struggling Japanese electronics company a head start over Microsoft and an Xbox 360 successor.

The PlayStation 4 will be Sony Corp.'s first major game console since the PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006. Microsoft Corp. is expected to unveil the next Xbox in June at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles. Last fall, Nintendo started selling the Wii U, though it plays catch-up in some respects in bringing the ability to play high-definition games.

Although the Xbox 360 came out a year before PlayStation 3, Microsoft's game machine has been more popular, largely because of its robust online service, Xbox Live, which allows people to play games with others online. The original Wii has sold more units since its launch than both its rivals, but it lost momentum as the novelty of its motion controller faded. Sales of the new Wii U have been slow.

Underscoring the importance of a new PlayStation and the U.S. market, Sony is holding its announcement event in New York rather than in Japan, as it had in the past. The event is at the Hammerstein Ballroom in midtown Manhattan.

Here's a running account of the PlayStation event, presented in reverse chronological order. All times are EST. Presenters include Andrew House, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.; Mark Cerny, lead architect for the PlayStation 4; and David Perry, co-founder of the Internet game company Gaikai, which Sony bought last year.

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6:40 p.m.

Perry talks about Gaikai's vision of letting people explore any game in the PlayStation store for free. The idea is gamers will then buy what they like.

He says PlayStation 4 will allow for virtual spectating. With one button, you can broadcast your game play so friends can "look over your shoulder virtually."

It will have a feature called remote play, in which you run the game on the PlayStation, which then sends the video to your handheld PlayStation Vita device over the Internet so you can play remotely.

___

6:30 p.m.

Cerny says the new PlayStation will have hardware compression so sharing video of game play will be easier. You can browse live game video of games your friends are playing.

Adopting Facebook's philosophy, Sony will transition to an online game network based on real names, even as people will also be able to keep their aliases.

___

6:25 p.m.

Cerny appears in a plaid shirt and jeans as he touts the ease in which computer programmers will be able to write games for the new system. He says that with so many devices around, the value of having a powerful computer on a single chip has diminished. Instead, Sony is building the new PlayStation on top of a traditional PC architecture, and in doing so, game creators will have an easier time developing games.

___

6:10 p.m.

Just before announcing the PlayStation 4, House refers to "a moment of truth and a bold step forward for PlayStation and the company." He says Sony is looking to offer powerful opportunities to connect and play, including on mobile through a companion PlayStation Vita released last year.

___

6 p.m.

The PlayStation event begins with light and video show at the storied Hammerstein Ballroom in midtown Manhattan. In attendance are analysts and journalists representing news organizations around the world.

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(Reuters) - Wolfgang Puck may be the world's best-known celebrity chef he certainly was one of the first in the U.S. and at 63, he is busier than ever. Puck oversees a global empire of restaurants (including his flagship, Spago, in Beverly Hills), popular lines of canned and frozen food, and his designer cookware, all balanced with television and radio appearances and seemingly nonstop travel. As he recently told the New York Times, "Why stop? What would you do at home?"

There is even more on his plate: For the past 17 years, Puck has also been the executive chef of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual after-Oscar Governor's Ball, probably the ultimate Hollywood party. The next dinner, on February 24, will once again be at the Hollywood & Highland Center, in the ballroom of the former Kodak Theater, now the Dolby Theater.

So what's the secret to cooking for George Clooney, Angie and Brad, and hundreds of other Academy members? We caught up with the superstar chef in Los Angeles, on his cell phone in his car on his way to yet another meeting.

Q: How many guests are we talking about for this party?

A: There are about 3,500 people who attend the Awards, and we have a little less than half 1,600 at the actual dinner. It's by invitation only.

Q: Organizing it strikes us as something like a military operation. Do you start planning the next one as soon as you finish the one on Oscar night?

A: Not at all. I do everything at the last moment. That's my favorite thing.

Q: So that keeps the menu up to date. But don't you have to finalize it ahead at some point?

A: We have to have the dishes decided by the middle of January. We do a presentation at a press conference for the media. So even Sherry has to have her dessert ready then, too.

Q: Can you handle special requests?

A: Oh, yes. We have everything: Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher

Q: But how do you juggle all those different things?

A: We changed the format a few years ago to small plates. That way, there is something for everyone. So all night long there are small-portion dishes that get passed around to the tables.

Q: Like what?

A: You might get one grilled lamb chop, a small something with lobster like we do at Chinois, mini chicken pot pie with black truffles, slices of pizza, mac and cheese, a small potato with caviar. You eat six or seven little things. It's easier on the kitchen, and everyone can pick and choose.

Q: Any particular favorites with the crowd?

A: After the first time we made the chicken pot pie with black truffles, someone on the Academy Board of Governors told me, "We don't care what else you do, but you have to have the pot pie."

Q: Can you dish on some specific celebs?

A: Barbra Streisand loves the wild mushroom risotto with black truffles, and the slow-braised short ribs. And a few years ago, Danny DeVito asked for a double order of lobster.

Q: How large is the team that you work with on that evening?

A: We have probably 300 in the kitchen and then 600 waitstaff in the dining room.

Q: Walk us through the time line leading up to that Sunday night.

A: Matt, our catering manager, organizes and buys everything. By Friday, we have all the food in for sure. But we might start ahead of that with things like smoked salmon that's 10 days before or a week ahead for other things. We get the produce and perishables in as last-minute as we can. We had 800 Dover sole one year for the 1,600 portions.

Q: And the cooking?

A: We start the day before with what we can do, and then at 5 p.m. Sunday, as the show comes on in LA.

Q: It sounds as if you're just using your regular staff to get this all done. That's impressive.

A: Pretty much, yes. And we have a lot of other parties going on at the restaurants that week, too.

Q: What's the seating arrangement? Do you help with that, too? That could be a nightmare in Hollywood.

A: I am part of that. And I treat it like my restaurants. We seat friends together, and the films and studios together. Dawn Hudson is great. She told me, "I want to have a party." And the more we make it into an upscale party with great food, the more people like it.

Q: We know that it wasn't always so.

A: No. When we were still at the original Spago, nobody went to the Governor's Ball. The stars walked through it and then went straight to Swifty's party at Spago. The press couldn't interview anyone. The whole thing has changed.

Q: So it was a smart move to hire the creator of Spago for the Governor's Ball.

A: It was rocky at the beginning. The first time I did it, the show was still at the Shrine. We had to build a kitchen outside, and it was windy and the burners kept going out. I was worried we would be serving raw chicken with black truffles. We had to put aluminum foil around the burners to keep them from blowing out. I had other LA chefs I remember that Angelo from Valentino was there to help me.

Q: But the Dolby Ballroom kitchen is better, I'm sure.

A: We have two kitchens there, and we designed them. So we don't have to go camping anymore.

Q: When do you eat on Oscar night?

A: I eat all night as the plates go out, and of course we have staff meals salads, soups and we feed the crew and other staff. We feed more than 3,000 people that day.

Q: Who would you have cook an awards dinner for you?

A: I'd have a lot of the LA people, like Nobu and Nancy Silverton, and some of the new chefs like the guys from Animal. And I'd have some really good wines. For any awards dinner, you need to have good wines.

Q: Who does the wines for the Governor's Ball?

A: Moet & Chandon. We're hoping they'll be back.

Q: Any downtime after the big night?

A: Oh, no. Straight back to work. We have the new Spago to run. I'm very happy with it, and people seem to love it.

Q: It sounds as if you have the Governor's Ball down to a science.

A: It's easier when it's organized. To make a success, you have to do what you know how to do well. This isn't the night to try anything new.

Barbara Fairchild, the former editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, is a best-selling author, speaker, consultant and an inductee into the James Beard Foundation's "Who's Who in American Food and Beverage."

This story wqas refiled to correct the date to Feb. 21)

(Reporting by Barbara Fairchild. Editing by Arlene Getz, Kathy Jones and Douglas Royalty)

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TAIPEI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc's manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group has frozen hiring at a Shenzhen plant that makes gadgets including the iPhone 5 and put the brakes on recruiting for other factories across China, but said the move was not linked to any single client.

Foxconn runs a network of factories across the world's No. 2 economy that make products for tech companies from Hewlett Packard to Dell. It sought to pour cold water on a Financial Times report that it had imposed a hiring freeze while it slows production of Apple's latest smartphone.

"Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past, our company has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process," the company said in a statement.

"This action is not related to any single customer and any speculation to the contrary is false and inaccurate."

Like other Chinese contract manufacturers, Foxconn, the trading name of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, relies on a large number of migrant laborers from across the country who journey home for the most important holiday of the year. Many do not make it back to work, but Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo said this year they saw as many as 97 percent of employees return.

A Foxconn recruitment centre in an industrial suburb of Shenzhen, where job-seekers register their names and mobile numbers, was closed on Thursday.

"I've waited here four days now and I've spent a lot," said Yang Jun, a hopeful migrant from Shanxi province, in northern China. "I'm not sure how long I can hold out. If they don't contact me soon I'll have to leave."

Apple sold a less-than-expected 47.8 million iPhones in the 2012 holiday quarter, fanning fears that its dominance of consumer electronics is on the decline as Samsung Electronics Co and other manufacturers that use Google Inc's Android software gradually gain market share.

The iPhone is Apple's most important product, accounting for half its revenue. The company's shares slipped almost 2 pct on Wednesday to $451, and are down about 34 percent from their September peak above $700, as investors fret about sliding margins and intensifying competition.

IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLE

Apple watchers often take cues from its component suppliers and manufacturing partners. In January, CEO Tim Cook took the unusual step of warning investors that it is difficult to extrapolate from limited "data points".

RBC estimates that just 70 to 80 percent of Chinese workers return to factories it tracks.

"This year we believe the return rates have been closer to 90 percent, which may minimize the need to hire," RBC analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a Wednesday research note.

"Given the timing of the freeze, it may have more to do with higher return rates of employees versus what was expected by Foxconn and other supply chain companies."

Foxconn's latest statement contradicts another Foxconn spokesman, Liu Kun, who is cited in the newspaper on Wednesday as saying, "Currently, none of the plants in mainland China have hiring plans."

A check on Foxconn's recruitment website on Wednesday showed the company's Taiyuan and Hangzhou plants were hiring. But its factory complex in the southern city of Shenzhen is its single largest production base.

The Shenzhen plant "is not hiring at the moment because workers' return rate after Chinese New Year is very high this year, reaching 97 pct", Woo said.

"We replenish each year depending on the return rate."

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Longhua, China; Editing by Edwin Chan, John Wallace and Dale Hudson)

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PARIS (Reuters) - The CEO of a U.S. tire company has delivered a crushing summary of how some outsiders view France's work ethic in a letter saying he would have to be stupid to take over a factory whose staff only put in three hours work a day.

Titan International's Maurice "Morry" Taylor, who goes by "The Grizz" for his bear-like no-nonsense style, told France's left-wing industry minister in a letter published by Paris media that he had no interest in buying a doomed plant.

"The French workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three," Taylor wrote on February 8 in the letter in English addressed to the minister, Arnaud Montebourg.

"I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!" Taylor added in the letter, which was posted by business daily Les Echos on its website on Wednesday and which the ministry confirmed was genuine.

"How stupid do you think we are?" he asked at one point.

"Titan is going to buy a Chinese tire company or an Indian one, pay less than one Euro per hour wage and ship all the tires France needs," he said. "You can keep the so-called workers."

As the leaked letter drew outrage in France, Montebourg penned a scathing response, spelling out the reasons why France routinely ranks as a leading destination for companies to invest, beating China and India in mid-2012.

"Can I remind you that Titan, the business you run, is 20 times smaller than Michelin, the French (tire) technology leader with international influence, and 35 times less profitable," Montebourg wrote, in a two-page letter in French.

"This just shows the extent to which Titan could have learned and gained, enormously, from a presence in France."

Montebourg's letter, a copy of which was sent to Reuters, said Taylor's comments, "as extremist as they are insulting", illustrated his ignorance of France.

Union leaders also reacted furiously. CGT official Mickael Wamen said Taylor belonged more "in an asylum" than in the boardroom of a multinational and noted his views were based on a visit to a troubled plant whose operations had been cut back.

The vicious exchange made for another public knock to France's business image after verbal attacks last year by Montebourg on firms seeking to shut ailing industrial sites prompted international derision.

Combined with concern over plans for a 75-percent "millionaires' tax", Montebourg's antics drove London Mayor Boris Johnson to tell an international business audience that it seemed France was being run by left-wing revolutionaries.

Socialist President Francois Hollande may take some comfort in the view Taylor expressed of Washington: "The U.S. government is not much better than the French," he wrote, saying Western leaders were failing to halt state-subsidized Chinese exports.

TWO TOUGH-TALKERS

The row has pitted an outspoken former anti-globalization campaigner, the loose cannon of Hollande's government, against a right-winger who revels in provocation and tough-talking.

Proud of being "The Grizz" -- his group's logo features a cartoon bear and its website opens to the roar of a grizzly -- Taylor has clashed with unions before and once suggested that a U.S. judge was "smoking dope" after a ruling against his firm.

He built up Illinois-based Titan over 23 years into a global brand in tires for tractors and other off-road machinery and ran for the White House in the 1996 Republican primary, campaigning on a pro-business ticket.

At that time, he admitted to being "abrasive" in order to "get the job done": "The politicians, they all want you to like them," he told an interviewer. "I don't care if people like me."

To Montebourg, the author of "Kill All the Lawyers and Other Ways to Fix the Government" wrote: "You're a politician so you don't want to rock the boat ... France will lose its industrial business because its government is more government."

Taylor's letter was a response to Paris having approached Titan as a possible buyer of U.S. group Goodyear's Amiens Nord factory in northern France. Montebourg told reporters earlier on Wednesday that he would put his answer in a letter.

In it, he noted the United States is the No. 1 investor in France with 4,200 U.S. subsidiaries employing nearly half a million people in the country. He said those firms appreciated French productivity and "savoir-faire" and warned that Paris would fight others which exploit cheap labor.

Montebourg has often lashed out at cheap imports of manufactured goods from low-wage countries such as China and last year told the boss of Indian steelmaker ArcelorMittal he was unwelcome in a spat over a shuttered plant in France.

Despite having per-head productivity levels that rank among the best in Europe, economists blame France's rigid hiring and firing laws for a long industrial decline that has dented exports. Many also fault the country's 35-hour work week for diminishing competitiveness with Germany.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co's Amiens Nord plant employs 1,250 people, who have been battling demands they work more shifts or accept layoffs. The site now faces closure.

Talks last year with Titan over a possible rescue fell down after a failure to reach a deal with unions on voluntary redundancies.

Taylor accused France of being at fault. "Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tires. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government."

(Additional reporting by Christian Plumb and Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Giles Elgood)

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NEW YORK (AP) Sony's next-generation gaming system, the PlayStation 4, promises social and remote capabilities. The new controller resembles that of the PlayStation 3, but adds a touchpad and a "share" button.

The Japanese electronics giant said the console will be part of a new ecosystem focused on hardware, software and "the fastest, most powerful gaming network."

Wednesday's announcement gives Sony a head start over Microsoft and an Xbox 360 successor.

The PlayStation 4 will be Sony Corp.'s first major game console since the PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006. Microsoft Corp. is expected to unveil the next Xbox in June at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles. Last fall, Nintendo started selling the Wii U, though it plays catch-up in some respects in bringing the ability to play high-definition games.

Although the Xbox 360 came out a year before PlayStation 3, Microsoft's game machine has been more popular, largely because of its robust online service, Xbox Live, which allows people to play games with others online. The original Wii has sold more units since its launch than both its rivals, but it lost momentum as the novelty of its motion controller faded. Sales of the new Wii U have been slow.

Underscoring the importance of a new PlayStation and the U.S. market, Sony held the announcement event in New York rather than in Japan, as it had in the past.

Here's a running account of the PlayStation event, presented in reverse chronological order. All times are EST. Presenters include Andrew House, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.; Mark Cerny, lead architect for the PlayStation 4; and David Perry, co-founder of the Internet game company Gaikai, which Sony bought last year.

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8:05 p.m.

The event wraps up without Sony showing off the device or saying anything about price or availability, other than to say on the screen "holiday 2013." The event focused on the new console's social and remote features and games that are being developed for it.

___

7:50 p.m.

Sony continues to bring game developers on stage to talk about upcoming releases and plans for the PlayStation 4. Video from the various games is shown on the giant screen.

___

7:40 p.m.

More than an hour and a half into the presentation, Sony has yet to show the PlayStation 4 machine. There's no word yet on price or release date, though availability isn't likely for several months.

___

7:30 p.m.

It's 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Tokyo, and the event is being streamed live at Sony's website.

Yoshinori Ono from Japanese game maker Capcom addresses the audience in Japanese, with a translator offering the remarks in English.

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7:25 p.m.

Beyond games, Sony is touting the PlayStation 4's fast graphical capabilities. You'd be able to create animation in 3-D using a Move motion controller all in real time.

___

7:15 p.m.

Another game showcased was "The Witness." It's a puzzle game that explores an abandoned island. It will be developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4.

___

7 p.m.

Among the offerings planned: "Drive Club." An executive from Evolution Studios says it's been a concept for a decade, but made possible with the new machine. The game will be about driving the best cars in the world in the best locations in the world, using 3-D models of engines built by the development team.

___

6:50 p.m.

The event continues with demonstration of games that can be played on the new PlayStation.

___

6:45 p.m.

Like Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony is trying to position its device as an entertainment hub that can deliver movies, music and social networking as it tries to stay relevant in the age of smartphones and tablets.

The PlayStation online network will have access to Sony's video and music services, as well as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon as long as you have subscriptions to those services. You'll also be able to access Facebook.

___

6:40 p.m.

Perry talks about Gaikai's vision of letting people explore any game in the PlayStation store for free. The idea is gamers will then buy what they like.

He says PlayStation 4 will allow for virtual spectating. With one button, you can broadcast your game play so friends can "look over your shoulder virtually."

It will have a feature called remote play, in which you run the game on the PlayStation, which then sends the video to your handheld PlayStation Vita device over the Internet so you can play remotely.

___

6:30 p.m.

Cerny says the new PlayStation will have hardware compression so sharing video of game play will be easier. You can browse live game video of games your friends are playing.

Adopting Facebook's philosophy, Sony will transition to an online game network based on real names, even as people will also be able to keep their aliases.

___

6:25 p.m.

Cerny appears in a plaid shirt and jeans as he touts the ease in which computer programmers will be able to write games for the new system. He says that with so many devices around, the value of having a powerful computer on a single chip has diminished. Instead, Sony is building the new PlayStation on top of a traditional PC architecture, and in doing so, game creators will have an easier time developing games.

___

6:10 p.m.

Just before announcing the PlayStation 4, House refers to "a moment of truth and a bold step forward for PlayStation and the company." He says Sony is looking to offer powerful opportunities to connect and play, including on mobile through a companion PlayStation Vita released last year.

___

6 p.m.

The PlayStation event begins with a light and video show at the storied Hammerstein Ballroom in midtown Manhattan. In attendance are analysts and journalists representing news organizations around the world.

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MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida man posted photos on Facebook showing himself hugging a baby manatee and was arrested on charges of harassing the endangered sea cow, wildlife officials said on Wednesday.

A tipster saw the photos and alerted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which arrested Ryan William Waterman on a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Waterman, 21, was released from the St. Lucie County Jail on Monday on $2,500 bond, jail records showed. He told television station WPEC that he meant no harm and did not know it was illegal to touch a manatee.

The Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act prohibits molesting, harassing or disturbing manatees, which are classified as endangered in Florida and are also protected by federal laws.

The photos were taken at Taylor Creek, near Fort Pierce in southeast Florida in January. One showed Waterman lifting the baby manatee part way out of the water and hugging it. Others showed his two young daughters petting the manatee, and one of them sitting on the animal.

Wildlife agents said that could have caused severe stress to the manatee calf, which was likely still dependent on its mother. The large, slow-moving animals gather in warm coastal waters and rivers during the winter.

"The calf also appeared to be experiencing manatee cold-stress syndrome, a condition that can lead to death in extreme cases," said Dr. Thomas Reinert, a manatee biologist with the wildlife commission. "Taking the calf out of the water may have worsened its situation."

A Florida woman was arrested on a similar charge in the St. Petersburg area in November, after she was photographed riding an endangered manatee.

(Editing by Dan Grebler)

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NEW YORK (AP) Sony is sharing the PlayStation 4 with the world.

The Japanese electronics giant unveiled the new gaming system Wednesday, hyping the machine as a "supercharged PC" with the ability to effortlessly share interactive experiences, by instantly broadcasting video of gaming action or virtually handing out health potions to friends online.

"Today marks a moment of truth and a bold step forward for PlayStation," said Andrew House, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Sony said the system will feature an eight-core processor that can juggle more tasks than the PlayStation 3 and be part of a new digital ecosystem that's "the fastest, most powerful gaming network."

"Our long-term vision is to reduce download times of digital titles to zero," said Mark Cerny, Sony's lead system architect on the PS4.

The PS4 is Sony's first major game machine since the PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006. Wednesday's unveiling is Sony Corp.'s attempt to steal the spotlight from rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co., at least until Microsoft unveils its next Xbox in June, as expected, at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles.

But one thing Sony neglected to do: show the actual device.

Instead, the two-hour event involved executives from Sony and its video game partners touting features and showing demonstration video on stage.

There was no word on price or availability, other than a flash on the screen saying "holiday 2013."

When the PlayStation 3 went on sale in the U.S. on Nov. 17, 2006, the 20 gigabyte model had a $500 price tag and the 60 GB version went for $600. They are now cheaper and come with more storage $270 for 250 GB and $300 for 500 GB. Comparable models of Nintendo's Wii U and Microsoft's Xbox 360 both start at $300.

Among the PS4's revisions is an updated controller that adds a touchpad and a "share" button. The controller also features a light bar, which means a new PlayStation camera can more easily track the device for motion control.

Many of the new features revolve around social networking and remote access. With one button, you can broadcast video of your game play so friends can "look over your shoulder virtually," said David Perry, co-founder of the Sony-owned Internet game company Gaikai. With remote play, you can run a game on the PS4 to stream over the Internet to Sony's mobile gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, which debuted last year.

Sony is building the new system on top of a traditional PC architecture, instead of a custom design, to make it easier for computer programmers to write games. Games designed for PS3 won't work, Sony said.

Among the games that were unveiled for the PS4 on Wednesday were the realistic racing simulator "Drive Club," super-powered action sequel "Infamous: Second Son," artsy puzzler "The Witness" and first-person shooter "Killzone: Shadow Fall."

Last fall, Nintendo launched the next generation of gaming consoles with the Wii U, which comes with a tablet-like controller called the GamePad. The controller allows two people playing the same game to have different experiences depending on whether they use the GamePad or a traditional Wii remote, which itself was revolutionary when it came out because of its motion-control features.

The original Wii has sold more units since its launch than both its rivals, but it has lost momentum in recent years as the novelty of its motion controller faded. Nintendo said it sold 3.1 million Wii Us by the end of 2012. It was a disappointing start for the first of a new generation of gaming systems.

In some ways, notably its ability to display high-definition games, the Wii U was just catching up to the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, the preferred consoles to play popular games like "Call of Duty."

The PS4 is arriving amid declines in video game hardware, software and accessory sales. Research firm NPD Group said game sales fell 22 percent to $13.3 billion in 2012. With the launch of the PS4, Sony is looking to attract audiences who may have shifted their attention to games on Facebook, tablet computers and mobile phones.

All three console makers are trying to position their devices as entertainment hubs that can deliver movies, music and social networking as they try to stay relevant in the age of smartphones and tablets. The PlayStation online network will have access to Sony's video and music services, as well as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, with paid subscriptions to those services. People will also be able to access Facebook.

Beyond games, the PlayStation 4 will let people create animation in 3-D using a Move motion controller all in real time.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Corp said it will launch its next-generation PlayStation this year, hoping its first video game console in seven years will give it a much-needed head start over the next version of Microsoft's Xbox and help revive its stumbling electronics business.

The new console will have a revamped interface, let users stream and play video games hosted on servers, and allow users to play while downloading titles as well as share videos with friends. Its new controller, dubbed DualShock 4, will have a touchpad and a camera that can sense the depth of the environment in front of it.

Sony, which only displayed the controller but not the console, said on Wednesday the PlayStation 4 would be available for the year-end holiday season and flagged games from the likes of Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Activision Blizzard Inc, whose top executives also attended the glitzy launch event.

It did not disclose pricing or an exact launch date.

Sony's announcement comes amid industry speculation that Microsoft Corp is set to unveil the successor to its Xbox 360 later this summer. The current Xbox 360 beats the seven-year-old PlayStation 3's online network with features such as voice commands on interactive gaming and better connectivity to smartphones and tablets.

But all video game console makers are grappling with the onslaught of mobile devices into their turf.

Tablets and smartphones built by rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd already account for around 10 percent of the $80 billion gaming market. Those mobile devices, analysts predict, will within a few years be as powerful as the current slew of game-only consoles.

"It looks good and had a lot of great games but the industry is different now," Billy Pidgeon, an analyst at Inside Network Research, said of the new PlayStation.

"It'll be a slow burn and not heavy uptake right away."

MIGRATION TO MOBILE

Console makers will also have to tackle flagging video game hardware and software sales, which research firm NPD group says have dropped consistently every month over the last year as users migrate to free game content on mobile devices.

PlayStation 4 will have an app on Android and Apple mobile devices that connects to console games and can act as a second screen, Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said in an interview.

"Playstation 4 ... really connects every device in the office and the smartphone and the tablet out there in the world," Tretton said.

The console, which has been in development for the last five years, will have 8 GB of memory and will instantly stream game content from the console to Sony's handheld PlayStation Vita through a feature called "Remote Play," the company said.

"What Sony is banking on is the ease of the use of this system," Greg Miller, PlayStation executive editor at video game site IGN.com, said.

After six years, Sony PlayStation sales are just shy of Xbox's 67 million installed base and well behind the 100 million Wii consoles sold by Nintendo Co Ltd, according to analysts.

Tretton said it would be a big undertaking to manufacture and distribute the console in Sony's four major markets by the end of the year, adding that it would be a "phased rollout" that starts before the end of the year.

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia predicted Sony would probably get a couple of million units of the PlayStation 4 out by the 2013 holiday season and 7 million or 8 million out a year later.

Sony also announced a strategic partnership with video game publisher Activision Blizzard to take its Diablo III game to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

Activision's upcoming sci-fi shooter game "Destiny" in development by its Bungie Studio will also be available on PlayStation consoles.

(Editing by Gary Hill, Bernard Orr and Edwina Gibbs)

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Joe Garagiola, the Major League baseball veteran best known for his affable personality and quick wit as a sports commentator, game show host and even late-night television personality, retired from broadcasting on Wednesday.

Garagiola, 87, who made his Major League debut with his hometown team, the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1946 and ended his baseball career nine seasons later with the New York Giants, embarked on a much longer broadcasting career in 1955.

He began calling Cardinal radio broadcasts on KMOX that year and went on to a nearly three-decade association with NBC starting in 1961, making his mark as a commentator for the network's baseball game of the week broadcasts into the 1980s.

Garagiola crossed over from sports to NBC's news division, serving as a "Today" show panelist from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992, and also worked in entertainment television.

During the 1960s and 70s, he filled in for Johnny Carson as an occasional guest host of NBC's "Tonight Show" and presented various game shows, including "He Said, She Said", Joe Garagiola's Memory Game", "To Tell the Truth" and "Strike It Rich".

In addition to his Major League stints with the Cardinals and the Giants, the left-handed-hitting catcher played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs during a 676-game career that earned a .257 batting average, 42 home runs and 255 RBI.

"I really appreciate everything that has happened to me," Garagiola said at news conference at the Arizona Diamondbacks spring training facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. "I don't deserve a lot things that happened to me, but I remember Jack Benny said he had arthritis, and he didn't deserve that either."

Garagiola capped his Hall of Fame broadcasting career as a part-time television analyst for the Diamondbacks since 1998.

(Writing by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Steve Gorman and Pravin Char)

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