A gamer’s dream come true

MANILA, Philippines – Every gamer has dreamed about being able to take their games with them wherever they go. Sony Ericsson’s Xperia PLAY smartphone, launched on Tuesday in the Philippines after much anticipation, is a dream-come-true for the gamer in all of us.

The Xperia PLAY is a virtual fusion of gaming console and smartphone. It takes all the advanced features of the Xperia Android smartphone and combines it with a high-performance gaming processor and a Playstation-style slide keypad to create the first “playstation certified” smartphone.

Gamers will have greater control when playing games in the Xperia PLAY since the playstation keypad controller, with directional buttons and the trademark square, triangle, circle and cross buttons, is a more familiar feel compared to a touchscreen.

“The [processor of] Xperia PLAY is three times more powerful than the original PSP” according to Vincent de la Cruz, Product Group Marketing Manager of Sony Ericsson. This removes any concern in the capability of Xperia PLAY to handle games, he said.

Xperia PLAY uses Andriod 2.3 (also known as Gingerbread) operating system which was developed specifically for gaming. It also packs a powerful 1 Ghz snapdragon processor and the Adreno 205 Graphics Processing Unit allowing the smartphone to deliver smooth graphics at 60 frames per second.

Several popular games will come with every Xperia PLAY: Bruce Lee, Crash Bandicoot, FIFA 2010, Madden NFL 11, Star Batallion and The SIMS 3. At least 400 Xperia optimized games will be downloadable via the internet, a few are free and others are paid.

Other popular games available for Xperia are, Assassins creed, Need For Speed, Battlefield, Modern Combat, among others.

Big game publishers will also bring games into the Android system of Xperia PLAY. Electronic Arts Mobile will develop FIFA 12 for the Android while Tozai Games will bring “Lode Runner” an “acclaimed console hit and gaming franchise” to the Android for the first time, according to a statement released by Sony Ericsson during the product launch.

Square Enix, developer of the Final Fantasy gaming franchise, will bring “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light” to the Xperia PLAY exclusively by November of 2011, as well as other hit titles, the statement said.

De la Cruz said the price per game download ranges from $1.99 to $4.99, but there would also be free games that could be downloaded.

Sony Ericsson General Manager, Dennis Manzano said in a statement that the more powerful processor was also “designed for minimal power consumption so Xperia PLAY users can enjoy longer hours of battery life and game time”

“Gingerbread [operating system] is a step forward with faster and lighter processes that are easier on the processor and so use less battery” he said.

Xperia PLAY also comes equipped with numerous features to enable users to communicate better with other people. It has a 5.1 megapixel camera with video recording capability, Facebook and Twitter synchronisation, numerous Google services such as Gmail, Google Talk, Google Maps, and many more.

It also has a complete set of office tools such as document editors and readers, calendar, phone book, conference calls, web browser, media player, music player, among others.

“Other smartphones can say they are complete, but [Xperia PLAY] “one ups” them because of its unique [Playstation] keypad” De la Cruz said.

Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY is already available nationwide for a suggested retail price of P19,990, De la Cruz added.