Sony Ericsson Unveils Xperia Play at Mobile World Congress

As expected, Sony Ericsson unveiled the Xperia Play at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Combining the power of Google Android and the gaming prowess of the PlayStation Portable, the Xperia offers an impressive blend of communication, productivity, and entertainment.

It looks like the phone will hit Asia and Europe before coming to America (through Verizon) in Spring 2011. It will come bundled with a game, while several other will be available at launch. I’m guessing it will be a well-known first-party game from Sony, but that would be cool if Final Fantasy VII was the launch title. The kids would go nuts. Anyway, here’s a clip from the press release:

The Android smartphone offers all the benefits that users have come to expect from Sony Ericsson’s existing range of XperiaTM 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.

Initial software partners include Sony Computer Entertainment, Digital Chocolate, Digital Legends, Electronic Arts, Fishlabs, Gamehouse, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Handy Games, Namco Bandai Networks, Polarbit, PopCap, Trendy Entertainment, and Unity Tecnologies.

Lastly, here are the official specs:

Camera
5.1 megapixel camera
Auto focus
Flash / Photo light
Geo tagging
Image stabiliser
Send to web
Touch focus
Video light
Video recording
Video blogging

Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Google™ Music Player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™ service*
Sony Ericsson Music player
Stereo speakers
TrackID™ music recognition application

Internet
Android Market™*
Bookmarks
Google™ search*
Google™ Voice Search*
Pan & zoom
Web browser (Webkit)

Communication
Call list
Conference calls
Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)
Google™ Talk*
Noise Shield
Polyphonic ringtones
Speakerphone
Sony Ericsson Timescape™***
Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)
Vibrating alert

Messaging
Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
Conversations
Email
Google Mail™*
Instant messaging
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)

Design
Auto rotate
Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)
Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)
Picture wallpaper
Touchscreen
Wallpaper animation

Entertainment
3D games
Dedicated gaming keys
Flash Lite™
Gesture gaming
Motion gaming
Video streaming
YouTube™

Organiser
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document editors
Document readers
E-Manual
Flight mode
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Infinite button
Phone book
Set-up Wizard
Widget manager

Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
aGPS
Bluetooth™ technology
DLNA Certified
Google Latitude™
Google Location Service
Google Maps™ with Street View
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB Connector
Modem
Synchronisation via Facebook™**
Synchronisation via Google Sync™
Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
USB 2.0 high speed support
Wi-Fi™
Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality
* The service is not available in all markets.
** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.

Google™ services*
* These services may not be available in every market Android Market™ Client
Gmail™
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Google Latitude™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Media Uploader
Google Music Player™
Google Phone-top Search
Google Search widget
Google Sync™
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search
Set-up Wizard
YouTube™

Screen
16,777,216 colour TFT
Capacitive multi-touch
4 inches
480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)

In-Box:
Xperia™ PLAY
Battery
Stereo portable handsfree
8GB microSD™ memory card
Charger
Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
User documentation

Facts
Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
Weight: 175 grams
Phone memory: 400 MB
Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7

Talk time and networks Networks
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*
Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*
Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*
Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*
Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*
Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*
MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*

Networks
UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
CDMA2000®, cdmaOne, EVDO

Colour
Black
White

Pretty cool, hey? Any of you considering this phone?

Source

DICE 2011 Outtakes: Jay Mohr Sings Van Halen

I was trying to interview actor Jay Mohr about hosting the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards at DICE 2011…but that never really got started. He liked my microphone and thought it was cool that I also use it to belt out Journey songs in karaokoe. This led him to singing a bunch of Van Halen songs. I thought it was cool that he did one in his Christopher Walken impersonation, as per my request. I thought it was cooler that he cut off his interview with Kotaku’s Brian Crescente because he remembered what song he wanted to sing. Ha!

Check out this clip of outtake footage when you have a chance. Bonus points will be awarded if you can name the famous gaming people in the background!

Nokia Announces Windows Phone 7 Partnership with Microsoft

Here’s a video of Microsoft and Nokia announcing their partnership on Windows Phone 7. Nokia has been lagging on the software side for years, but still makes some of the best hardware in the business. Windows Phone 7 has tons of potential that can be realized — in terms of sales — through Nokia’s hardware and global reach. This is a huge, huge deal with tons of ramifications for the mobile phone business.

Kindly check out the clip and let me know what you think!

RROD vs. YLOD

Here are some excellent photos from RPadholic RRODizHere, chronicling his encounter with the PlayStation 3 yellow ring of death. Congrats to him on fixing his console!

Here are some excellent photos from RPadholic RRODizHere, chronicling his encounter with the PlayStation 3 yellow ring of death. Congrats to him on fixing his console!

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DICE 2011 Day Three: Raymond’s Rants

DICE 2011 Thursday was capped off by the 14th annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption cleaned up, with the former getting game of the year. Legends Bill Budge and Bing Gordon were honored, winning the Pioneer and Lifetime Achievement awards, respectively. Gordon wrapped up his acceptance speech with a 10-minute poem full of excellent videogame references — it was entertaining and inspiring…but for some reason I kept thinking about Reverend Jesse Jackson reciting Green Eggs and Ham on Saturday Night Live.

My personal highlight was watching Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk get inducted into the AIAS hall of fame. I am such a fan of these two men on several levels. After playing through Baldur’s Gate for the 18th time, I kind of became a fan. Then I got to meet these guys and was immediately impressed with how sharp they were. As I’ve gotten to know them a bit over the years — and witnessed several of Dr. Greg’s…unfortunate hairstyles — I was floored by how nice they are. Not only was I fan of their games, I was a fan of them as human beings. They’re trained physicians, brilliant game creators, and two of the nicest people I’ve ever met in this business. Watching them receive this honor from their peers was fantastic.

After the after-party, I ended up with a bunch of old G4 production friends, a dear friend from Sony, an oceanographer’s son, and some cool developer from Mexico that brought tequila that was numbered by hand. The evening ended with Fatburger. Now onto day three!!!

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I’ll be flying home tonight after an excellent DICE 2011 and I’m positive that I won’t play any games tonight. I’ve been getting by on a couple of hours of sleep for the last two nights, including one night of crazy partying. My body is looking forward to a nice night of sleep.

That said, I’m sure as hell going to jump back into DC Universe Online on Saturday. There are a bunch of level 30 missions waiting for me and the rest of the Super Buddies. Random DCUO observation: when I’m waiting for friends to join me online, I love beating the crap out of random Sinestro Corps members. As some of you know, I’m a big Green Lantern fan. Pounding the crap out of Sinestro’s minions and his dreaded lieutenant Arkillo is just gratifying. Getting Kilowog’s approval is pretty excellent too.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

DICE 2011 Day Two: Raymond’s Rants

Man, that was way too much alcohol last night. I’m finally starting to feel like a human being again. As expected, DICE 2011 is awesome. It’s fantastic chatting with incredible developers, catching up with friends, and watching RPadholic N8R. We just had a fun lunch with some major players in the videogame industry. I can’t wait for him to tell you his impressions of Michael Pachter. I’m positive you’ll be surprised.

I’ve said this several times over the last few years — DICE is my favorite videogame conference by far. It’s a relatively small show that’s attended by some of the most brilliant people in the business. It’s truly an honor to attend. To give you an idea of how intimate the setting is, the first person N8R and I bumped into at The Red Rock Hotel was BioWare’s Dr. Ray Muzyka. This morning we shared a cab with the amazing Mark Cerny. I respect and admire the hell out of both of these guys. I’m having my usual excellent time at this year’s show, but it’s fascinating watching N8R meet these people and imagining what he’s thinking.

As for me, it was cool catching up with former Nintendo of American VP Perrin Kaplan. She’s an awesome woman and she shared some great Nintendo stories during our interview. EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich — the number one analyst in the video game business IMHO — shared his thoughts on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS vs. Sony NGP.

I’ll update the comments section of this post throughout the day. Thank you guys for keeping the site active while I’m at the show!