Sony has sold about 250,000 units of the new version of the PlayStation Portable in Japan in the four days since its launch, a game magazine publisher said on Wednesday, roughly matching total Japanese sales of the original PSP in the two months through August.

Sony launched the new PSP, which is cheaper and slimmer than the initial model, on Sept. 20 in Japan in a bid to compete better with Nintendo Co Ltd's hot-selling DS Lite.

Both Sony and Nintendo released their handheld consoles, the PSP and DS, respectively, late in 2004.

But sales of the PSP, which can play movies, music and games, have recently been outshone by the DS Lite, the lighter version of the DS.

Sony sold 250,702 new PSPs in the four days through Sept. 23, compared with 275,223 units of the original PSP it sold in July and August in Japan, according to data from videogame magazine publisher Enterbrain.

The new PSP sells for 19,800 yen, which is 5 per cent less than the original model and compares with 16,800 yen for the DS Lite.