Sony's Move motion-sensing controllers for PlayStation 3 videogame consoles will hit the US market in September ahead of Microsoft's rival Kinect devices for Xbox 360.

"We think the PlayStation Move is the device that will bridge the gap between core and casual gamers," Sony vice president Peter Dille said during a press conference on the opening day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Move wands will be priced at 49.99 dollars (US) when they debut in North America. A smaller "sub controller" wand for use navigating characters in shooter games will be priced at 29.99 dollars.

Sony will combine Move controllers with Eye cameras and a videogame in bundles sold for 99.99 dollars. Adding a PS3 console to that bundle raises the price to 399.99 dollars.

PlayStation Eye cameras, which are needed to track movements of controller wands, will sell separately for 39.99 dollars.

Titles being tailored for play with Move include "Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition" and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11."

Move will hit the market in time for the year-end holiday shopping season and aim to tap into a zest for motion-sensing controls that made Nintendo Wii consoles marketplace superstars.

Move controllers were reminiscent of small black flashlights topped with brightly colored orbs.

The devices let PS3 play be controlled with swings, jabs and other natural movements instead of toggle-and-button commands that have been trademarks of play on PS3 and rival Xbox 360 consoles by Microsoft.

On Monday, Microsoft announced that its hotly-anticipated motion-sensing "Kinect" controllers for Xbox 360 consoles will be available in the United States beginning November 4.

Move will be released in North America on September 19 and in Europe four days earlier.

"Kinect" is the name for the new game technology developed by Microsoft under the code name Project Natal.

The device uses a 3-D camera and gesture recognition software to let people play videogames using natural body movements and spoken commands instead of hand-held controllers.

No price details were disclosed at the presentation, which provided glimpses of how Kinect lets players control on-screen characters with natural gestures instead of hand-held controllers.