But competition in next-generation game consoles is heating up with US software maker Microsoft Corp already putting the Xbox 360 on sale last year. Nintendo Co., the Japanese manufacture of Game Boy machines and Pokemon and Super Mario game software, is also planning its version called Revolution later this year. The new timeline means that the PlayStation 3 will still hit store shelves in Japan and North America in time for Christmas. The PlayStation series is now the dominant brand for home consoles, helping support Sony’s bottom line in recent years. Kutaragi said the company is still trying to finalise the copyright protection technology for the Blu-ray disc, the format for PlayStation 3 and next-generation video for the company’s electronics gadgets in the works.

News of the delay sent Sony’s stock tumbling 1.8% to £26.61 today. Kutaragi announced the decision after the close of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Ken Kutaragi, the head Sony’s video game division, made the announcement at a hastily called news conference after reports of the delay surfaced in the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun and other papers.
The PlayStation 3 is critical for Sony Corp.’s profits and brand image, so a delay is seen as a major setback for the Japanese electronics and entertainment company as it struggles to mount a recovery after several years of poor earnings. “It is also necessary to convince them to stay for a longer time. This will help Africa to be more prepared for the next drought.”. Sony will put off the release of its much awaited PlayStation 3 machine until November from its planned spring debut because of delays in finalising its next-generation disc technology, the company said today. “It is our challenge to get the donors to trust that their help is making a difference,” he said.

“There are a number of important countries that are not willing to help out because they are disenchanted and think the situation is hopeless,” said Mr Bondevik, a former Norwegian prime minister.He was reluctant to point the finger, but it is known that there have been particular difficulties in persuading the US and Arab nations to respond to the crisis in Africa. But the UN special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa, Kjell Magne Bondevik, said he was struggling to get the international community’s attention. Up to 95 per cent of cattle in some areas have died because of the drought and local economies are crumbling. In Wajir, north-east Kenya, about 70 per cent of small shops have closed because customers are unable to repay mounting debts.Even if the drought does break in April when the rains are due to arrive, millions of people will need years of external help simply to survive.The United Nations has appealed for $400m (£230m) to help the drought victims.

The drought conditions extend throughout the Horn of Africa, where 2.6 million Ethiopians and 1.7 million Somalis are also suffering from food shortages. Oxfam will warn today that pastoralists may take 15 years to recover their livelihoods unless they receive appropriate support. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, this time round, we devoted as much money and energy to saving 3.5 million of our fellow citizens as we do to making war in other regions of the globe.”
Part of The Constant Gardener was shot in Loiyangalani, in the drought-affected district of Turkana. “In the worst drought of the decade, 3.5 million people in northern Kenya are in imminent danger of starving to death, dying of thirst, or being killed in fights for survival,” he said.