DURING Shanghai's annual ChinaJoy game show, dozens of Chinese players stood up to three hours in front of Sony booths waiting for a hands-on chance to try out the latest PlayStation games and the headset virtual reality device code-named Sony Morpheus.

Sony Morpheus, now officially called PlayStation VR, will probably debut in China next year, the company said in mid-September. It also announced the price of PlayStation 4 on the Chinese mainland will drop from 2,899 yuan (US$453) to 2,399 yuan.

It's all part of Sony's rapid expansion in China, two years after the Shanghai Free Trade Zone was created to trial free-market reforms that benefit both foreign companies and domestic companies and spur consumption.