Sony has unveiled the PlayStation 3, highlighting the "supercomputer-like power" it hopes will steer the console to victory in the massively competitive gaming market.

The long awaited launch of the successor to the PS2 had at one point been thought to be planned for earlier this year. In the event, the announcement in Los Angeles came barely a week after Microsoft launched its latest console, the XBox 360.

Sony says its next generation of games machine is 35 times faster than its predecessor and will provide more realistic graphics for more compulsive gameplay.

Real-time landscapes and virtual worlds will allow users to "dive into" the games, Sony said. The console will also play different kinds of media, ranging from classic CD-ROMs to Blu-ray next-generation disks.

Alex Croft, the buying director of Europe’s largest video games retailer GAME, described the new product as "astonishing".

He said: "The intensity and quality of the games, the power of the machine, the range of things it can do, all look incredible. Just a few years ago it would have been unthinkable that this level of technology would be available to consumers so soon."

Unveiled in Los Angeles last night, the PS3 will be launched in the United States in spring next year. The timing means the console will cede ground to Microsoft's recently revealed XBox 360 in the vital holiday Christmas shopping season. Sony has not yet confirmed when it will go on sale in the UK.

The first XBox, while on a technical par with the PlayStation 2, suffered from a paucity of games titles. In Japan, the XBox has lagged behind both the PlayStation and Nintendo’s GameBoy series.

Bill Gates, Microsift's founder, recently said that the XBox had given his company the chance to "play again", adding that the XBox would pose a far greater threat to Sony, the market leader.

Nintendo is expected to unveil its latest console, code-named "Revolution", in Los Angeles this week.

"In terms of machine specifications, Sony appears to be taking the lead," Masashi Morita, an analyst at Okasan Securities, told AFP.

"But the outcome of the battle will rely heavily on software and their marketing."

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