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PS legend Kuturagi to "step down" from Sony board

Major exec shake-up at Sony sees PlayStation creator pulled back from the Gods to re-take sole charge of the games division.

Ken Kuturagi will step down from the Sony board and renounce responsibilities for semi-conductors and home electronics within the corporation, is was reported today, and will instead take specific charge of the company's gaming division again.

The move comes as Sony prepares to announce PlayStation 3. Kuturagi has already stated that the corporation will show its "next generation games console at E3" in 2005.

Kuturagi is widely considered to be the creator of the PlayStation brand, overseeing the creation of the original, stand-alone machine after a failed attempt to launch a disc-based add-on for SNES with Nintendo. Kuturagi himself has previous history as a SNES sound-chip engineer.

He also oversaw the creation of PlayStation 2 and the ensuing fight with Microsoft and Xbox. Renowned for his sense of humour, Kuturagi famously offered Microsoft "good luck" in response to Xbox coming to market.

Other changes at senior level at Sony today have seen the electronics giant take on its first ever foreign chairman, American Howard Stringer, formally chief executive of Sony Corporation of America.