TOKYO — Long after failing to challenge Sony and Nintendo game consoles, Panasonic Corp. is preparing to re-enter the market as early as next year in North America by releasing a portable game player that provides users with online gaming on the go, according to sources.

Panasonic, which marketed its first home video game 3DO Real in 1994 but pulled out from the game industry only three years later, hopes to capitalize on a booming popularity of online gaming with the release of a handheld console provisionally named “Jungle.”

The new online game player is foldable and equipped with a keyboard and a touch pad, enabling users to exchange messages with other gamers online.

According to U.S. media reports, Panasonic has already started offering the products to U.S. consumers for testing. After analyzing consumers’ impressions of the game device, the home electrical appliance giant will decide when to put it on the market and at what price. It has not yet been determined if Panasonic will release the game player in Japan.

While online gaming has gained much popularity worldwide, conventional portable game players have been considered to be at a disadvantage because they are not outfitted with keyboards.

It has been extremely difficult for Panasonic to penetrate the game software market when video game console manufacturing giants, such as Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co., have already built extensive distribution networks. Industry sources said Panasonic judged that it could have a chance to make inroads into the online game market, where software can be sold easily on the Internet, by taking advantage of its name recognition as a consumer electronics giant.

— McClatchy-Tribune News Service