Sony Corp, which on Tuesday confirmed a shipping halt on the Suez Canal disrupted delivery of its newest PlayStation 2 to Europe, said supply shortages of the game console extend to the United States.

The maker of the best-selling game console is airlifting the devices to the United States from China as well as to Europe to reach retailers during the Christmas shopping season, said Yoshiko Furusawa, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc in Tokyo yesterday. Sony began using cargo planes to fly the PlayStation 2 to Europe after a ship carrying some of the consoles was stopped by a grounded oil tanker in the Suez Canal.

Sony, the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, is counting on the slimmer version of the PlayStation 2 to help revive profit at its game unit. Sony may be spending between US$10 and US$18 to ship each unit by air, said PJ McNeal an analyst at American Technology Research in San Francisco.

"It's not good that they're having this problem now," said Kazumasa Kubota, an analyst at Okasan Securities Co in Tokyo.

Sony's Furusawa declined to say how much the company is spending on the air shipments and whether the supply shortages of the slimmer PlayStation 2 will affect profit.

"We don't know yet," said Furusawa. "We'll have to see how sales go in the third quarter" ending December 31.

The company started selling the console, featuring a built-in Internet connection, in the United States on November 1 for US$149. Sony is currently producing the PlayStation 2 at two plants in China.

Sony spokesman Nick Sharples said on Tuesday the shipping disruption caused a delay of about two weeks for European deliveries.

European retailers, including Royal Vendex KBB NV, the biggest Dutch department-store owner, and Surcouf, the computer sales unit of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute SA, told Bloomberg on Tuesday they have run out of the PlayStation 2 units at some stores.

Sony shares rose 2.4 per cent to 3,800 yen (US$36.5) as of the 3 pm close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The delay does not necessarily mean customers will turn to Microsoft Corp's Xbox or Nintendo Co's GameCube consoles because some gamers want to play titles only compatible with the PlayStation 2, Okasan's Kubota said.

"Customers want to play specific games so they might wait," he said.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," a carjacking game developed for the PlayStation, led a 35 per cent increase in US video game sales in October to US$479 million from a year earlier, according to market researcher NPD Group.

Sony's PSP (PlayStation Portable) console, which plays games, music and video, goes on sale in Japan on December 12.

During the quarter ended December 31 last year, Sony's game unit had 70.5 billion yen (US$681 million) in operating profit.

(China Daily 12/09/2004 page12)