Mobile World Congress 2011: Verizon Wireless Gets First Dibs on Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play this March
New PlayStation Phone comes pre-installed with six games and will have 50 titles available at launch
BARCELONA, Spain – Gamers waiting for the PlayStation Phone will be able to jump into games like The Sims 3, Guitar Hero and a multiplayer-exclusive FIFA 10 this March when Verizon Wireless launches the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Sony Ericsson unveiled the new device and a full line-up of games to celebrate the start of Mobile World Congress 2011. There will be 50 games available at launch, including 10 from Gameloft. Sony did not disclose the pricing on hardware or games at the press conference.
Xperia Play delivers the smartphone functionality that the most serious power users could need, teamed with the immersive gaming experience that any gamer would want. In portrait mode, the Android smartphone offers all the benefits that users have come to expect from Sony Ericsson’s existing range of Xperia smartphones with best-in-class entertainment experiences, a great 5 megapixel camera, a brilliant 4” multi-touch screen and great social networking features.
However, slide out the gaming control and users enter a new world of immersive mobile gaming. The slide out game pad reveals a digital D pad, two analogue touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation icons: circle, cross, square and triangle.Qualcomm’s optimized Snapdragon processor with a 1Ghz CPU and embedded Adreno GPU graphics processor deliver silky smooth 60fps play-back 3D mobile gaming and Web browsing with minimal power consumption so Xperia PLAY users can enjoy long hours of battery life and game time.
“The launch of Xperia Play could not have been possible without the close collaboration of both Google and Sony Computer Entertainment,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, executive vice president and chief creation officer at Sony Ericsson. “The commitment of so many industry leading game publishers further demonstrates that Xperia Play will deliver on the long-held expectations from consumers the world over.”
Xperia Play will run on Gingerbread (version 2.3), the latest version of Google’s Android platform. The phone will also be the first PlayStation Certified device. This means it will have access to PlayStation game content provided through the PlayStation Suite initiative, currently under development by Sony Computer Entertainment and due to launch later this calendar year.
Sony Ericsson has partnered with key publishers in the gaming industry to deliver a rich, vibrant ecosystem at launch and post launch with many leading new titles available via the Android Marketplace. Leading franchises coming to Xperia Play includes EA’s Need For Speed, The Sims 3 and a world-first multiplayer version of FIFA 10 for mobile. GLU Mobile/Activision will be bringing Guitar Hero, while Gameloft’s titles include Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell.
A pre-loaded application will enable users to easily discover and download titles that have been optimised for game play on Xperia Play, access recently played games and see information about the games they have downloaded.
"Glu's strategic relationship with Sony Ericsson aligns us with a leading innovator in mobile and gaming,” said Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile. "We look forward to accelerating our momentum in social mobile gaming with compelling offerings on Sony Ericsson's newest mobile devices."
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John Gaudiosi
Editor-in-Chief
John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.
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