Thu Apr 7, 4:10 PM ET Technology - Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp (SNE.N). (6758.T) sold 500,000 units of its PlayStation Portable handheld video game device in the first two days after its North American release, the company said on Thursday.

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The $249 PSP Value Pack came out March 24 in the United States. There were mixed reactions to the early sales, with some analysts saying the device was not selling as fast as some large chains might have expected.

But Sony said the PSP generated a total of $150 million in first-week sales at North American retailers. It said sales remained strong through the rest of the first week but did not quantify what that meant or give details on second-week sales.

The PSP came out late last year in Japan and has sold more than 1 million units there to date.

Sony postponed the European launch of the PSP indefinitely in order to ensure it would have an adequate supply for the U.S. launch, which it promised would be about 1 million units on the first day.

Analysts expect sales of handheld games to drive industry growth in 2005. Most forecast U.S. software sales growth of about 5 percent this year.