BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Sony Corp. announced Thursday it is delaying the launch of its "Home" virtual world for PlayStation 3 that was planned for later this year until next spring.

The announcement was made by Kazuo Hirai in his first major public appearance as the new chief executive of Sony Corp.'s video game business, Sony Computer Entertainment.

"We wanted to wait until we could offer what would be totally satisfying for consumers," Hirai said in a keynote speech at the Tokyo Game Show, an annual event where game machines and new software are shown.

"Home" is a real-time interactive online world much like Linden Lab's "Second Life" and other so-called "metaverse," except it's designed for PlayStation 3, Sony's newest home console.

Sony officials have shown the demonstration video of "Home" on various occasions, promising new kinds of businesses, such as advertising and electronic shopping, as well as games.

The product's delay is the latest trouble Sony has had with PlayStation3, whose European launch had to be postponed for several months due to production problems.

Hirai, named in November as president to replace Ken Kutaragi, the "father of the PlayStation," sounded apologetic in several places during his speech, acknowledging that the PlayStation 3 had failed to live up to the company's sales targets.

(Agencies)