And there was the handheld market. The DS and the PSP were nearing the ends of their lives, the former having beat out its admirable competitor 2:1, and Sony and Nintendo were both preparing to launch their next handheld consoles. But things weren’t as simple as simply releasing a better, more powerful handheld system and make more games for it- because a revolution in the games industry had changed the way developers, publishers, and hell, even a massive number of gamers looked at games in general. It was a revolution that could have a major impact on the entire industry, console games included, not just handheld gaming.

We’re talking, of course, about mobile gaming. Simple, accessible games that could be played in short bursts were becoming hugely popular, and many thought this was going to be the future of the games industry, that this would be the primary way of playing games going forward (as big as mobile is, that last bit obviously didn’t happen). Every company was coming up with different ways to deal with this paradigm shift, and as far as Sony was concerned, they decided to go with a two-pronged approach. Not only did they decide to go ahead and launch a new dedicated handheld system as a proper successor to the PlayStation Portable, they also released a mobile and handheld console hybrid.

What was originally dubbed the PlayStation Phone was leaked halfway through 2010, and an announcement for the Sony Ericsson device, officially called the Xperia Play, came not long after. Running on Android, the device had a design very similar to the PSP Go. With a screen that slid out, a d-pad, the PlayStation face buttons, two analog touch pads, shoulder buttons, and more, the device, on paper, had everything it needed to serve as the perfect bridge between mobile gaming and handheld gaming.

But as it turned out, in its attempt to straddle that line, the Xperia Play ended up failing to perfectly deliver on either promise. It was neither here nor there. It was powerful enough to run PSP games, and was capable of emulating PS1 games as well, and even boasted the likes of Crash Bandicoot. But any new gaming device needs exclusive content to sell consumers on its viability, to convince people to spend money on the product- and Sony failed on this front. Games made specifically for the Xperia Play were few and far in between, which, of course, was a problem that hamstrung the PS Vita as well- but that’s a different discussion. Meanwhile, the phone also wasn’t capable of remote play or cloud streaming- something that would have been a huge boon for a device like it, but was bafflingly left out of its feature set.

The Xperia Play clearly wasn’t going to be a dedicated handheld device, that much was clear, but what about the mobile side of things? It was, after all, a phone, so maybe it could succeed in doing at least one of the things it set out to do? Well, it didn’t, because as it ran out, a large chunk of Android games simply couldn’t run on the phone, in large part because of its focus on traditional handheld console inputs. And with a draught of content on both fronts, the device quickly faded into oblivion.

It’s no surprise that the Xperia Play wasn’t terribly successful. Though it had a good idea on paper, Sony’s half-hearted execution of its ideas left a lot to be desired, while they also seemed to be entirely willing to just send the device out to die with barely any support for it following its release, similar to what they did with the PS Vita. The Xperia Play isn’t a device they speak about much- hell, they didn’t speak about it much even back when it was alive. Presumably, sales were low enough that they just decided to abandon it.

Not that long ago, old prototypes for a sequel to the PlayStation Phone allegedly leaked. The prototype, from eight or so years ago, showed images of a device that had a very similar design to the original Xperia Play, with a few additions and improvements on top- such as a 3D button, which, presumably, was going to be the phone’s attempt at cashing in on what the 3DS was doing with its own stereoscopic 3D. Given how belatedly we heard about this prototype (if it was even real), and the fact that it never saw the light of day, it’s fair to assume that Sony abandoned this project before it could come to fruition- and looking at what happened with the original PlayStation Phone, it’s easy to see why.

The question is, will Sony ever take another crack at making a dedicated gaming phone? The answer? Almost definitely not. The gaming market has changed considerably, and it’s pretty clear-cut now that dedicated gaming phones aren’t going to work, not when gaming has become so ubiquitous on regular phones everywhere. The Android and iOS platforms have become massive for the industry, in terms of both revenue and player bases, and we’re seeing more and more companies looking to get in on that action.

That includes Sony as well, who’ve explicitly said multiple times of late that they have ever intention of taking their biggest properties and making mobile games out of them. It’s easy to see how something like Gran Turismo could work as a free-to-play mobile game, and other franchises from Sony’s catalog that focus on multiplayer could also presumably be revived for the same purpose, including the likes of Killzone, Twisted Metal, or even something like LittleBigPlanet.

Software developed specifically for mobile is definitely going to be a thing at Sony in the near future, but they’re unlikely to make another PlayStation Phone, or something along those lines. When it comes to hardware, it’s clear that they’re focused entirely on PlayStation home consoles- even the handheld line of PlayStation has died out, following the failure of the PS Vita. Then again, maybe this is the best possible approach for them. Rather than half-assing it with a device that was doomed to fail from the start, maybe they could instead focus on delivering quality software. Or so one would hope, at least.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The Sony Xperia PLAY has really stepped it up a notch from the previous X10 model.  This new Sony model entitled the PLAY is suitable, considering it has been dubbed as the Playstation phone.  This isn’t an unsuitable name, as the PLAY is compatible with a variety of Sony licensed games.  Now almost every phone on the market has games on it and the ability to purchase more games for the phone.  The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY just happens to be the first phone ever specifically geared towards gaming.  However this is not just a phone which includes a top of the line gaming experience, as it has the full capability of a smart phone and may be preferred by many regardless of its gaming capabilities.

After having experienced the plethora of 4G phones on the market, they seemed to give me more problems than it’s worth.  With the 3G capabilities of the PLAY it seemed to work quite fine with a firmware that is trouble free.  The Xperia PLAY has done away with previous features of the older operating system, giving it the most sleek, flowing and easy to use interface running the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread Platform.  Android 2.3 has an enhanced and easier to use virtual keyboard, better voice actions, over 150,000 applications in the Android Market and more.

Sony has managed to include a 1GHz CPU with its dual-channel Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, which no phone should be without in today’s age, as well as an Adreno 205 graphics processor.  It all allows for top of the line mobile gaming and we can’t forget about multiplayer with super fast Wi-Fi at 802.11n.  This lets you download games and apps in a flash.  The feature packed Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY has a 4″ touch screen that is super responsive, especially in comparison to previous models.  It has five home screens that you can customize with icons, widgets and more.  The phone is slightly bigger than your average smart phone because of the drop down Playstation like controller.  This controller is key to the gaming on the phone as it really makes it feel like you are playing a portable Playstation Gaming Device.  There is even the addition of dual analog controls, however they are touch pads. It’s a great idea, but it takes some getting used to.  Thankfully most games give you the option to use the d-pad instead. More serious gamers will adjust to the touch pads quickly, though there is no doubt that actual mini analogue sticks would have been preferable.

To run down some of the additional specifications of the the Xeperia PLAY, in terms of Memory it has 512 MB RAM/512 MB ROM with Memory Expansion of 400MB built in with an 8GB microSD card included. The PLAY will support up to a 32GB microSD card for maximum space.  As mention the phone has duel cameras with a front 5 mega pixel LED Flash camera as well as a front VGA video camera for recording those special moments on the go.  Video playback is a standard MPEG4 quality making it easy to sync and watch right on your computer while not viewing it on your phone.  The Xperia PLAY has 2.1 Bluetooth, WiFi a/b/g/n and a commonly seen micro USB 2.0 port.  For those still in need of more specifications the Network technology is as follows – GSM 850,900,1800,1900 (HSDPA 7.2 Mbit/s) HSUPA as well as an A-GPS system.  With a 480 x 854 display (4.69 x 2.44 x 0.63) and a battery life that provides an 8 hour talk time, the PLAY is quite an extraordinary phone the has a gaming experience like no other phone on the market.

Initially upon testing the phone I expected a portable gaming device with phone capabilities, but I was certainly taken back by all the smart phone capabilities that the PLAY has.  The phone has a rear facing 5 megapixel auto focus camera with a LED flash and a front facing VGA camera.  Aside from being one of the best phones on the current market, the PLAY is something that any respectable gamer should own, with an ever growing library of games included a bundle of pre-loaded games.  It comes pre-loaded with:

• Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior
• FIFA 2010
• Sims 3
• Star Battalion
• Tetris
• Asphalt 6

Other games are available such as Shooters like Modern Combat Black Pegasus which could not have played better with the left and right trigger buttons.  Ports like Crash Bandicoot are also available with all of them having no lag whatsoever with superb graphics. Every week more games seemed to be added to the Xperia Play Marketplace as exclusives that are not available anywhere else in the mobile market.  With a price tag of $200 with a contract the Sony Ericson Xperia PLAY is a steal in itself, so do yourself a favor and pick this bad boy up and if you happen to be a gamer, there is not another phone on the market that you should own.  The list of games currently available include the following.

• Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave from Trendy Entertainment
• Galaxy on Fire 2 from Fishlabs
• Assassins Creed from Gameloft
• Need for Speed SHIFT from EA Mobile
• Worms from EA Mobile
• Nova 2 from Gameloft
• Modern Combat Black Pegasus from Gameloft
• Guns n Glory from Handygames
• Reckless Racing from Polarbit
• Real Football 2011from Gameloft
• Gun Bros from Glu Mobile
• Racer Luma from Arcade/Unity
• Cordy from SilverTree Media
• Aporkalypse from Handygames
• Brothers in Arms Global Front from Gameloft
• Guerrilla Bob from Angry Mob Games/Unity
• Let’s Golf 2 from Gameloft
• Zenonia 2 from Gamevil
• Cyberlords from Handygames
• Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock Mobile from Glu Mobile
• Age of Zombies from Halfbrick Studios
• Spectral Souls from HyperDevBox Japan
• Splinter Cell Conviction from Gameloft
• Air Attack from Art in Games/Unity
• Armageddon Squadron from Polarbit
• Uno from Gameloft
• InfeCCt from Handygames
• Spiderman total Mayhem from Gameloft
• Millionaire City from Digital Chocolate
• Avatar from Gameloft
• Raging Thunder 2from Polarbit
• Homerun Battle 3D from Com2us Games
• Aftermath XHD from Jakyl
• I Must Run from GameLion
• Baseball Superstars 2011from Gamevil
• Ground Effect Pro from Jakyl
• ZeNonia from Gamevil
• Super KO Boxing 2 from Glu Mobile
• Farm Story from Team Lava
• Wave Blazer from Polarbit
• Soccer Superstars from Gamevil
• Battle Bears from Skyvu
• Tower Blocks New York from Digital Chocolate
• Super Dynamite Fishing from Handygames
• Iron Sight from Polarbit
• Toonwarz from Polarbit
• Restaurant Story from Team Lava
• Escape from AMA
• Raving Babies from AMA
• Bakery Story from Team Lava
• Denki Blocks! Deluxe from Jakyl
• Rollercoaster Rush from Digital Chocolate

For games to come in the future exclusive designed the the PLAY system are soon to come, here are a few:

● Battlefield Bad Company 2 by Electronic Arts
● Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Shadow Vanguard by Gameloft
● Desert Winds by Southend Interactive
● Ruined by Bigpoint
● Icebreaker by NaturalMotion
● Sleepy Jack by SilverTree Media
● Cracking Sands by Polarbit
● Armageddon Squadron 2 by Polarbit
● An unnamed fighting game from Khaeon Gamestudio

EndGadget says it has its hands on four videos of the PlayStation Phone thanks to the Chinese website IT168, and they have dropped the full specs of the device.

EndGagdet claims that it’s not confirmed that the “said Xperia-branded device is powered by a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, along with what’s likely to be a 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8255 as featured on the HTC Desire HD.” Neocore reports a 59.1 frames per second figure, and Quadrant reports a high score of 1,733.

Other information taken from a variety of resources is that the phone will have a resolution of 8454 X 480, a 4″ LCD screen, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash but without the ability to record HD videos (the latter part has not yet been confirmed), a battery capacity of 1,500mAh, a 512 MB RAM and ROM, a microSD slot, a SIM slot, a miro-USB slot, and a second microsophone on the back of the device for active noise cancellation. The device’s game running… thingie is called the PlayStation Pocket.

Well, now it’s more or less confirmed. Heck, it IS confirmed, albeit unofficially. Although, Sony did hint at it at their CES conference yesterday.

EndGadget also got their hands on new images of this PSP Phone earlier this week as well.

At Sony’s keynote CES speech earlier today, Kaz Hirai, PlayStation head, more or less confirmed the existence of the long-rumoured yet still unconfirmed PlayStation Phone. He said: “Sony’s strategy encompasses driving the development of a variety of new strategic products and services including tablets currently in development as well as smartphones, all the while of course integrating the know-how and the assets that we’ve accumulated from our PlayStation business.”

He carried on: “In 2011, you will start to see an implementation of a strategy we’ve developed and continually refined over the past 18 months. And you will see this strategy executed in the form of great new products and services coming to market that leverage Sony’s strongest assets.

“In addition to launching a line of Sony tablets, we’ll be building upon the video, music, game and book offerings on our Qriocity and our PlayStation Network services to deliver a compelling, unique experience for Sony across a wide range of consumer electronic devices.”

New pictures of the PlayStation Phone were leaked by EndGadget earlier this week.

Engadget has revealed that the device will be developed by Sony Ericcson using Google’s Android (Android 3.0) platform.

Engadget also revealed that,”The D-pad is here, but instead of the small joystick, the device will have what was described as a ‘long touch pad’ for analog controls, along with standard PSP buttons and shoulder buttons,”

The phone is rumored to have a screen that is between 3.7 and 4.1 inches with WVGA, a 5 megapixel camera and a 1GHz.

The device is black except for some parts like thegamepad which is white.

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