Hammered by four years of big losses, particularly in its television business, Sony is hoping the multi-billion-dollar games market will help it return to the black. Both Sony and Xbox maker Microsoft have been expected to unveil successors to their competing consoles, which have been evolving into home entertainment hubs for films, television, music, social networking and more. However, the once-mighty gaming firms are struggling to retain market share as they fend off a challenge from cheap — or sometimes free — downloadable games for smartphones and tablets. Last week, Japanese rival Nintendo warned that sales of its much-hype Wii U console would be lower than forecast. The mass-circulation Asahi said the PlayStation 4 would be launched for the year-end shopping season in Japan and the United States with a price tag of more than 40,000 yen ($430). Its controller would look similar to the PS3, but was embedded with a touch pad, the daily said.