Video: Watch the Xperia Play press conference, relive the surprise!

by Christopher Grant on Feb 13th 2011 4:30PM

A few hours ago at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Sony Ericsson finally shared details of the Xperia Play, the long-since-leaked PlayStation Phone that made its "official" debut during last week's Super Bowl.

While we've already picked over the presentation's carcass to bring you all the fresh meat we could find – like the hardware specs, release window and first US carrier, the PlayStation functionality, and some of the launch games – we figured some of you may want to relive all the surprises through the magic of video. Find the full Xperia Play presentation after the break, and then fly into the comments to let us know exactly how awkward those presenters were. We're going with: The most awkward. Boom!

Xperia Play

Tags: mobile, playstation, PlayStation-Phone, PlayStation-Suite, ps3, psp, sony, Sony-Ericsson, Xperia-Play

Reader Comments (59)

I'm kind of glad they stayed away from big PlayStation branding.

With PlayStation Suite I just think of this as an Android phone, with a PlayStation advantage.

@Mystic
I fully agree with you and that's probably the best way to sell this phone to someone because selling this as a Playstation Phone really wouldn't work.

@Mystic

It's sweet they are releasing the Experia Play on Verizon!

@omgwtf

Oh and I really don't understand why this thing won't be able to play all games on PSN from day 1. Isn't that the whole point of a playstation phone.... to be able to play the PSP catalog that's on PSN???!!!

/cheer

Can't wait!

"Its the worst, the worlds first...."

Have to agree with you there. That was the most half-hearted attempt at energy. The impression I got from the guy was that he didn't know what the hell he was holding and was hoping the audience would have burst into applause.

They could have got anyone better than that dude. At least someone that believed in the Play.

NGP is what i'm waiting for:)

N-Gage sends its regards.

@ShoTime So does the iPhone. Oh...

@Ellimem No it doesn't. N-gage was thought up of as a gaming device first and phone second. I personally think that the Xperia play is going to burn and crash. But that's just my opinion

@ShoTime If no one tried anything that someone else failed we would still be riding horses and reading books by candle light.

@mmmfishtacos

that's assuming the first person who ever sat on a horse didn't immediately fall off...

This is like the cell phone equivalent of the VGA's.

Say hello to N-gage again! haha Waiting for the NGP:) Already have an iPhome which can play most games already.

Why are people pretending to give a crap about the playstation phone when the iPhone exists?

@LittleMofreaky Because we want innovation, not the call of duty equivalent of a phone

@arucious Man, you're really good at saying ignorant things. Keep it up. You'll go far.

@LittleMofreaky I've had an iphone for about 3 years, I'm ready for something new. This could be my next phone if i don't find another android that i like better.

@arucious

exactly.

everyone is always raving about the iPhone and it's zillion apps (50% of which are either fart apps or something rediculous along those lines). when i think of the progress Google is putting into Android i see a steady swarm of innovating features. after the android os mature alittle bit more, i bet business workers will trade in there long outdated trusty Blackberry's and ppl will find out that Android's apps are actually usefull and fun compared to iPhone apps (excluding a few jems on the platform).

@arucious You kids are hilarious. It's like listening to a 13 year old still clinging to the idea that Santa Claus is real. iPhone nailed the market and these second rate products are just trying to tag along.

Hope no one holds Sony stock.

@ddealss

with your maturity level, you shouldn't be calling other people "kids."

@ddealss

It's always nice to see people back a product as "advancements" come out cause it to be worse than the original product, but good for you for backing the I-phone that gets worse with each "upgrade."

Most companies try to take steps forward with each new product they release, but apple says "we will not conform to this idea of improvements," I think i'll stick with products that work like blackberry, and android phones.

@LittleMofreaky

Buttons.

@12thSAGEofGAMING but where are these killer apps for android? seriously. what apps or games are on android that aren't already on the iPhone. it took almost a year for plants v. zombies to come out for it. and angry birds is innundated with apps. the android marketplace is as old as the app store too.

@gettinmoney662

Dead Space iOS says "Hi!"

I'm all for innovation, but to use Sony and innovation in the same sentence is just out of touch. The PS3 UI hasnt improved since launch. Their back end is abyssmal. Their controller is the pretty much the same controller the original Playstation launched with.I love my PS3 but man, do they have a lot of catching up to do and I'm not sure know how to.

I know it's fun to root for anybody who isn't Apple but it reeks of teenage angst and/or ill-informed arrogance. Truth is, they make the best electronics on the market and they have the customer satisfaction ratings to prove it.

@maveric101

Oh, I'm sorry if me calling you "kids" made your butt hurt.

With all the fact-less trash talking about Android being so much better than iPhone it's become tiresome. It's trying to justify that your phone is better than mine when no one even brought the subject up.

Like it or not, time to face reality, "kids". Apple was the innovator here. Without them do you really think you'd even have an Android?

Agree to disagree...

I feel bad for him because it was like doing a show and tell on something to people that already new what you were going to show them and they had already read your speech on what you were going to tell them.

"works on a surprisingly large list of cell 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*

Can someone break this down for me? It was announced for Verizon but it seems like it will work on other networks. So will any version support a sim card or will we have to wait for carrier specific versions? I have AT&T.

@IrishSJ

My understanding from what i have read on the Xperia play is they will be releasing it on verizon network first and then it will be available on other networks, kinda of like the I-phone with AT&T the original deal was AT&T would get first rights then it would go out to other companies, so who knows how long it will be before they release it on other networks.

Although you might just be able to buy the phone and have it unlocked and put in a AT&T sim card, running it on there network.

@asojax
Verizon doesn't use sim cards, I doubt this version would even have the spot for it. We use the cloud over here in good reception land.

(poor attempt at laughing at MS using their "cloud" to work a photoshop type program that has nothing to do with what the cloud really is)

@SuperWoody64

It's nice to know that, never had verizon so i wasn't aware they didn't have sim cards.

This phone is nothing but a gigantic missed opportunity.

It can't play PSP games. It can't play PSP2/NGP games. It can't even get to PS1 games until the end of the year when the 'Playstation Suite' launches. So why would anyone buy this? Just to get buttons for the small selection of sub-par Android games?

Had this been the next PSP, with the quad core CPU/GPU combo in the NGP, then it could really have been something special. As it is though, it's just yet another anonymous Android phone with added buttons.

Will Sony bring the next portable God of War (for example) to this device? Or do NGP? Surely the latter, and the same will be true of all of Sony's first party handheld games. I really can't see this having even the slightest chance of success.

@moroboshi

Sony Ericsson has (finally!) officially announced details on the Xperia Play, aka PlayStation Phone. The device will come pre-loaded with a "legendary" PS1 game, according to Kazuo "Ridge Racer" Hirai and a number of PlayStation titles will be available through the Android Marketplace "exclusively to Xperia Play" for a limited time. PlayStation Suite will be available later in the year.

In addition, Ericsson has revealed that 20 publishers are working on content on the device, with up to 50 games available at launch. Some of the brands you can expect on the device include the not-so-dead Guitar Hero, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, and Dead Space. Notably, EA's FIFA will be "the first multiplayer FIFA game on mobile."

There will be plenty of games straight away including PS1 games

@moroboshi

Not to mention the specs being childs play. My Droid X is a lot better than that and it's almost a year old. In March there's going to be a dual core phone and another with 50% more ram than any phone on the market. Why even bother if you're not gonna for the people who would buy it?

Why the hell is it starting off for Verizon customers. AT&T and T-Mobile have been the only carriers with Sony Ericsson. It only makes sense to make it come mostly to AT&T first. That pisses me off. Makes no sense. Verizon should get it last like the iPhone deal...Stupid.

Lmao at all them looking so nervous

akward presentation

So... Guitar hero died some days ago but is still going to be in the Xperia Play?

So let me get this straight, this has less gaming grunt than a PSP? What about PS3 remote play support?

I think I'll wait til the iPhone5 comes out!!

@Mad

Not the sixth? How about the seventh?

@mmmfishtacos

Except billions of people rode horses and read books by candle light. The same cannot be said about the N-Gage.

Improvements should come for things that have demand. If they truly desire to create a device that initiates high demand for game system with a phone, then the gaming should be able to compete with the current gaming handhelds. Regardless, I believe Xperia Play will see a bit of success due to the Playstation label.

Don't they realize that if they sign with verizon they're pretty much going up against the Apple Iphone, and by spring god knowns if Apple might even come out with an Iphone 5. AT&T also has the Apple Iphone, so to be honest i think their best move is to sign with T-Mobile where they actually have a chance of selling a decent amount of units.

Hmm I dunno if I want it though. I love buttons and this looks like yet another touch screen phone. I shall wait and see till then on my Blackberry ...

Worse presentation ever!!

Were these guys serious? It's like they just knocked up a script an hour before going on stage..

The usual boring Execs with diarrhea of the mouth and awkward moments. Wow, the announcement of iphone/ipad games, but now with buttons!! Can't wait never to get this.

"Bert Nordberg" should be the name of every Eurotrash bad guy villain in ever movie ever, from now until the end of ever.

I wonder how much it will cost unlocked and unbranded (if this will even happen). Im guessing along the same lines as most smartphones on the expensive end (500-600 usd); which kind of sucks.

BOOM!

A horrible presentation in a horrible space. Tiny "stage", small monitors, almost no signage, and no one in the audience seemed interested at all. Couldn't they find a few fan-boys to plant in there?

The Verizon announcement is big for SonyEricsson because they have not been on that system.I don't think the lead time will be long at all for them. Weeks.

@amazindud70: Apple has a very strict schedule for their products. iPhone5 will likely be released in July or August, to give the Verizon early adopters a feeling that they didn't TOTALLY blow it.

Me?
I will look into this, depending on pricing.

They almost had me sold until they said the carrier was Verizon, gonna have to pass on this I think.

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Video: Watch the Xperia Play press conference, relive the surprise!

Xperia Play

Reader Comments (59)

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 4:41PM Mystic said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:14PM libregkd said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:12PM omgwtf said

Posted: Feb 15th 2011 12:21AM omgwtf said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 4:48PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 4:51PM mguniverse said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 4:52PM Phawx said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:00PM malnsk said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:01PM ShoTime said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:24PM Ellimem said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:47PM phillipsteak said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:48PM mmmfishtacos said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 6:53AM CutterT said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:12PM Altman be Praised said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:13PM becomingwater said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:35PM LittleMofreaky said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:39PM arucious said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:54PM KillTheApex said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:09PM mmmfishtacos said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:15PM 12thSAGEofGAMING said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:49PM ddealss said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:35PM maveric101 said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 9:59PM asojax said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:09AM gettinmoney662 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:25AM darrell said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:28AM KillTheApex said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 2:57PM ddealss said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:38PM Cavall said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:44PM IrishSJ said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 10:02PM asojax said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 12:58AM SuperWoody64 said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 7:43AM asojax said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:55PM moroboshi said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:52PM Matrixxxx said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 8:22PM D3m0sthenes said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 5:57PM toddy1 said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:17PM Angel Mass said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:23PM shopping bags said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:29PM Angel Mass said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:50PM Mad said

Posted: Feb 14th 2011 8:50AM monkey with glasses said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 6:50PM ShoTime said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:05PM amazindud70 said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:11PM drizztrocks said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:20PM Mad said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:36PM JCat said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:45PM Spiritof said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 7:49PM TheDread said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 8:30PM Quest said

Posted: Feb 13th 2011 9:05PM ImpurestCrowd said

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