Xperia Play is Go, Go, Go

Right, Sony Ericsson has unveiled, officially - so we can ignore all that leaked business, the Xperia Play. Its a PlayStation-Certified device - which is meaningless marketing drivel for "it plays PlayStation games" - which handily ignores all those other devices with dodgy emulators that plays PS games too.

The headline stats from the launch are a 5.5hour battery life which is better than an NGP and probably better or comparable to an iPhone if you use it for intensive gaming. Then there's the 8GB memory (upgadeable to 32GB) that comes with it, good to see SE not skimping, and at last, a decent set of controllers for a phone.

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Take a look at some photos from Sony Ericsson's stand at the MWC show floor and here's video of the announcement from Sonys event which also unveiled some other Xperia products:

What all that chitter chatter means is this, and future, certified devices get a neat little PlayStation logo and lozenge with the four PlayStation shapes embedded within. Compatible devices will get access to a new version of the PlayStation Network store and can also download games from Android stores. If you missed out on all this, see the Superbowl advert.

The exclusive icon will provide access to a custom version of the PlayStation Store with lots of lovely PSone and new game content. No word yet on wether an Android device can cope with PS2 titles and it will take a few years for them to be comparable to Sony's bigger, badder, NGP.

Don't get too excited yet though, as the store won't open until "later this year." To tide gamers over, the console/phone will come with one hit PSone title and six other games preinstalled (Crash Bandicoot, Asphalt 6, Bruce Lee, Star Battalion, The Sims 3 and Fifa 10). There will also be some 50 new games at launch with developers mentioned including EA, Glu, Digital Chocolate and Gameloft.

Dungeon Defenders and Dead Space were two titles mentioned, with multiplayer a big feature plus the usual array of media and phone functions. The Xperia Play will start shipping in March with the US first up through Verizon. Find out more at the SonyE site and expect some further announcements over the week.

Technically there's the much touted 1GHz Scorpion processor, 400Mb of Internal RAM, 8Gb of microSD storage, full spec rundown here with the option to upgrade to up to 32Gb more via bigger microSD cards and a lovely looking 4" screen running at 854 x 480, a little less than the NGP. Photographed properly the device looks slick and well designed.

As games and further partners are announced, this article will be updated. As for price, no one is talking just yet - but as a likely choice of upgrade phone, here's hoping it's not mental. What would you pay for a flashy Android phone, just to play some extra games?