At the bottom of this post we have embedded the debut trailer for the game, as you would expect the visuals aren’t as impressive as the version of the game which hit regular consoles, but that said things do look pretty smooth and the players are recognizable.

In the video EA highlight the game’s vibrant graphics, awesome animation, new control schemes and total touch mastery – we have to say that by the looks of thing this looks like it is by far the best-ever football game for a smartphone, in fact it looks a lot like the version of the game which came to the PSP. We were particularly impressed by the movement of the players (which suggests the Xperia Play’s controls are being fully utilized) and also the general speed of the gameplay.

Below we have embedded a screenshot from the video, we think you will agree that for a smartphone the players don’t look too bad, but why is an Arsenal player celebrating alongside Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra and whoever that other Manchester United player is?

Currently there is still quite a lot we don’t know about this title, such as how much it will cost, when it will be released, what game modes there will be and whether there will be multiplayer capabilities, therefore we will have to keep you posted as we hear more.

How much do you expect to pay for FIFA 12 for Xperia Play?

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When the Xperia Play was first made available, it was selling with the suggested retail price of £500; this is significantly more than what the device can now be picked up for, thanks to a number of cuts. While it is obvious that sales are not doing what the company has expected, the first PlayStation approved smartphone showed a lot of potential which is why it is such a surprise to see it available on the market for so much less than originally planned now.

As ITProPortal explains in their article, Sony has recently made the decision to cancel the PSP Go all together, and this could be the reason behind the price drop. The Xperia Play offers slightly more than the PSP device does as far as gaming is concerned, not to mention it is still also a smartphone. It is boasting a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor and a 4” display with 854 x 480 pixel resolution, making it more powerful than the Go and has a better picture.

If you’re thinking of picking up the Xperia Play here a reminder of what the £260 will bag you. A Gingerbread 2.3 powered smartphone with 400MB RAM, an Adreno 205 GPU, stereo speakers, 8.5 hours of battery life, a front-facing VGA camera and a 5 megapixel camera on the rear capable of HD recording. It also includes an 8GB microSD to expand the storage. Sony has also included 5 pre-installed games for free while Expansys are also offering a free car charger.

Will the new offer and features be enough to entice you into buying an Xperia Play?

More About: PSP Go, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Play

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Yes, the Nokia NGage – remember that failed phone / gaming combi that launched back in 2003? Gamers failed to embrace it due to a number of reasons, mainly its odd design and lack of impressive titles and developer support.

As you may have guessed, Sony has gone on the immediate defensive to ensure that the Xperia Play doesn’t suffer the same fate as the NGage and the first factor in favor of the Xperia Play in Sony’s opinion is the fact that the gaming portion of the device is nicely disguised away from the mobile phone features.

Unlike the NGage, the Xperia Play’s gaming features are tucked away within the slide-out screen so that those who buy the device solely for its mobile phone features can enjoy just that – a mobile phone which looks and acts like any other smartphone out on the market at the moment. On the other hand, those who are buying it for its PlayStation features can enjoy mobile gaming on a device which looks visually appealing, compared to the NGage which only had one chunky design factor.

Dom Neil-Dwyer from Sony Ericsson has spoke about the Xperia Play and NGage similarities, and below is a quote from him obtained in a recent interview with Gamasutra:

“As you can see from the design of [the Xperia Play], when you hold it in portrait it’s a smartphone. It’s not a game device that you can make some phone calls on, it’s a smartphone. When you’ve got the game keys hidden and you’re just holding it like that, people wouldn’t know what it is, but obviously when you pop it open it’s a great gaming device.”

Our thoughts on this are that even though the Xperia Play is a fully capable mobile gaming device, complete with some impressive smartphone hardware and software, we have a feeling that the real challenge will come when the Sony Vita aka PSP2 is released at the end of the year, or early next year if rumors are to be believed.

Sony Ericsson are going to find it very tough to shift Xperia Play units when the Vita is out as the new device pretty much trumps the capabilities of the Xperia Play in every department as far as gamers are concerned. Don’t forget that the Vita will also come with better hardware, features such as cross-platform play with the PS3 and also social-media features and augmented reality capabilities.

Sony Ericsson are worried about gamers perceptions with relation to the Xperia Play becoming another NGage, but should they really be focusing on the Xperia Play becoming extinct when the Vita launches? Give us your thoughts on this.

More About: PlayStation Vita, sony, Xperia Play

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If you check out the Bold 9700′s dimensions you will see that it measures in at 109mm x 60mm x 14.1mm and weighs just 122 grams, this is what we regard as a relatively small and light smartphone when you compare it to most of today’s offerings, however it is not a great deal smaller than the Xperia Play. This is despite the fact that this boasts slide-out PlayStation controls and a 4-inch touchscreen display. The official measurements are 119mm × 62mm × 16mm and weighs it 175 grams.

The comparison shows that despite its advanced internals and impressive features the Xperia Play is not as big and bulky as a lot of people may think, it is just 19mm longer, 2mm wider and 1.9mm thicker, we have to admit this did take us by surprise.

You only really get the impression that the Play is much larger than the Bold 9700 when you have the sliding controls showing, however it still fits nicely in the hand when you play the games and is smaller and lighter than the 3DS / PSP.

We have embedded some photos of the two devices side-by-side below, are you surprised at all?

More About: BlackBerry Bold 9700, Research in Motion, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Play

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While this is obviously great news for those of you who actually own a PlayStation Phone, it’s not so good news for those of you who are patiently waiting for an Android and iOS release, both of which are still in development.

Creators of the game Mojang haven’t given any specific details on how long the exclusivity period on the Xperia Play will last, or when the game will be heading to Android and other mobile devices.

However, a media event is expected to bring full details on June 7th, as reported from VG247. How many of you are still addicted to Minecraft we wonder? Are you a bit disappointed that Sony has managed to prize this exclusive to the Xperia Play in favor of a global release for Android and iOS devices?

If you do have a Xperia Play, let us know if you intend to get Minecraft or not.

More About: Minecraft, sony, Xperia Play

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The Xperia Play is the first PlayStation ‘certified’ mobile device in 2011, meaning that users will be able to play official PS1 games, as well as download games and content from Sony’s recently announced PlayStation Suite. The device is also a pretty capable smartphone, with a stunning 4-inch display screen, a customized version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1Ghz Qualcomm processor, a 5 megapixel rear camera with VGA front camera, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of internal storage, expandable via MicroSD card.

But then we have a potential sticking point – it’s price. Unless you are willing to pick this up on contract, you can expect to pay around £450-500 for one – which obviously isn’t cheap. In our opinion that’s a bit too much for a device which is very likely to be overshadowed once the PSP2 is out at the end of the year. Sony are infamous for bringing in their premium starting prices though, so we’re hardly surprised.

How many of you are still planning to pick up the Xperia Play, knowing that the NGP with better specs, and 3G support which everyone keeps forgetting about, is on the way soon. If you ask us, we’d tell you that you are probably worth waiting a few months for at least a price drop. However, we have spotted this excellent contract deal with T-Mobile UK which you may be interested in.

Who’s getting the PSP Phone, and who’s waiting for the PSP2?

More About: Sony PS Vita, Sony PSP2, Xperia Play

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The retailer which has been named and shamed is Play UK, which is actually one of my favorite retailers for picking up games and other goodies online since their fast delivery service is excellent.

Back to the real story though, and they have listed a price for the Xperia Play, as much as £519.99, as reported from MTV Multiplayer. Just to let you know for everyone in the US, that converts to around $840 which is pretty crazy as nobody in their right frame of mind is going to pay that amount for the device.

The good news, is that this price is probably, most definitely exaggerated. We expect this to drop considerably by the time Sony announces official prices for the device. Don’t forget that the NGP is also coming out this year, and we expect that to be priced at around $400, so there’s no chance that anyone is going to pay $800+ for the Xperia Play – a device which is considered inferior compared to the quad-core equipped NGP.

What are your thoughts on this price? Could it be an error by the retailer, or do you actually think that Sony would offer the device at this price without contract? We’ll update you when we hear more on this.

More About: Playstation Phone, Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Xperia Play

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Engadget has somehow managed to get their hands on the PlayStation Phone, and have done the world a favor by posting a full report on the device complete with pictures and videos, seemingly a good while before Sony announce it officially at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

We’re going to focus on one particular aspect of their preview – a video which finally shows some gameplay action. Engadget didn’t go into specifics, but they were freely able to ‘download’ some emulators for the device – one was a Gameboy Advance, and the other a PlayStation one. We’re not sure that it’s entirely legal, but we bet you’re dying to see the results anyway.

The games shown were Ridge Racer and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4. We would have loved to see these played using the full length of the 4-inch multitouch 854 x 480 LCD, but it was still very satisfying to see these running without any apparent framerate problems or slowdowns. Super Mario Advance 4 was also tested and worked like a dream.

It’s clear that you can use the PlayStation Phone to download emulators and roms which will be enough for most, but we still don’t know what Sony’s actual plans are from a gaming point of view. Will they offer a direct service to download PS1 games from the PSN store, or do they have something completely different in the works?

Either way, we can’t wait to see what the final product looks like. Check out Engadget’s video below and read their full preview in the link above. Let us know your thoughts on the device after seeing this video – impressed?

More About: Playstation Phone, Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Xperia Play

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The video has been embedded at the end of this post, it clearly shows one lucky person playing Resident Evil 2 and Rage Racer on the device, I think you will agree that the slide-out controls look great and the graphics, frame-rates and load-times will undoubtedly combine the best of both worlds for a smartphone / handheld console hybrid.

When you slide-out the controls the Xperia Play looks very similar to the PSP Go, that said the Play features two touch sensitive analog pads and a touch screen display for when it is being used as a smartphone.

In the video it clearly shows that the software side of things is not yet finalized, you see a PlayStation emulator loading a ROM file, I would imagine that the finalized interface will be a lot more user-friendly.

The PlayStation Phone has still not been officially announced, therefore it could well be that the device seen in the video is just a concept which will never be released, I doubt this very much, however I do find it strange that no official announcement was made at CES 2011.

Engadget and Next-Gen both so that all of this leaked information pretty much guarantees that the PlayStation Phone is a done deal, therefore don’t be too surprised if it officially revealed by Sony at the Mobile World Congress 2011 (February 14th – 17th).

Will you be buying the Xperia Play?

More About: Playstation Phone, sony, Xperia Play

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