Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of game consoles, said its PlayStation unit will develop games with Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. to help take share from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. Namco Bandai will own 51 percent of the venture, named Cellius Inc., with Sony holding the rest, Sony said in a faxed release today. The venture will begin operations on March 6. Cellius will use Sony's Cell chip, which powers PlayStation 3, to create games for the console and content for mobile phones and personal computers, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said today. He would not give earnings forecasts or other details. The alliance may help Sony recoup the 200 billion yen ($1.65 billion) it spent developing the Cell with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp. Sony is expecting the chip, which makes the PS3 about 35 times faster than the PS2, to attract gamers with sharper graphics and more complex play. The Cell chip is also part of Sony's strategy to beat Microsoft and Apple Computer Inc. in controlling the digital home, a future network linking televisions, music players, game consoles and other appliances to the Internet. Namco Bandai's ``Ridge Racer 7'' and ``Mobile Suit Gundam'' were PlayStation 3's best selling games in Japan last year, according to researcher Enterbrain Inc. Sony's ``Resistance: Fall of Man'' was third. The games business generated 918 billion yen in sales for Sony in 2006, 12 percent of total revenue.
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