Technology giant Sony today held the world release of its next-generation PlayStation Vita handheld console in Japan, as the company aims to take a bite out of the growing smartphone games market.

Gaming fans in Japan, Sony's home country, flocked to the shops to get their hands on the device, which costs between 25,000 yen and 30,000 yen ($320 to $380).

It features a five-inch (12-centimetre) LED touch screen, two cameras and a GPS receiver, and comes in WiFi and 3G models.

By mid-morning hundreds were queuing at stores in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district to buy the PS Vita, which hit Japanese shops in time for the end-of-year festivities.

It will be launched in the United States and Europe in February 2012.

"A number of the devices are already sold out, most customers had reserved them in advance," one salesman in Akihabara said.

"The first customers are mostly men between 20 and 30 years of age," he said, adding that the 20 games available to play on the PS Vita as of Saturday were also geared towards the same demographic.

Nintendo's Game Boy, released in 1989, led the handheld game market until the mid-2000s, when Sony's PSP cut into its share. But the emergence of iPhone and Android games is threatening the existence of game-specific handheld devices.

Nintendo launched its 3DS portable game console about 10 months ago and it is gaining popularity.

"I already have the previous PSP model and a Nintendo 3DS, but I wanted at all costs to have the PS Vita too," said one male in his thirties, who was queuing up to buy a shopping basket full of accessories for his new gadget.