The new smartphone is a side slider. When folded, the smartphone offers a 4” multi-touch screen, four hardware keys and a 5MP camera on the back of the device. When the smartphone is open, its owner gains access to the gaming controller, similar to those used in other Sony products (e.g. Sony PSP). 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.

Brendan Johnston, Managing Director for Oceania at Sony Ericsson commented: “Today is a very proud moment for Sony Ericsson as we bring something truly revolutionary to the market. Xperia™ PLAY will forever change the way people think about smartphones and mobile gaming. Living up to our Xperia™ vision of providing the most entertaining smartphone experience, Xperia™ PLAY allows people to enter a new world of immersive mobile gaming.”

To take full advantage of gaming capabilities of the Xperia PLAY, developers have used 1Ghz Snapdragon processor with a built-in Adreno graphics accelerator. According to Sony Ericsson, this allows to play 3D games with a refresh rate of 60 frames/sec, and browse the web with minimal energy consumption.

Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY will be the first PlayStation certified smartphone, and will come with Android 2.3 installed. In addition to that, it will provide access to the PlayStation content using PlayStation Suite. This software is currently being developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, and will be released by the end of 2011 calendar year.

Sony Ericsson advised that a number of leading gaming franchises will be coming to Xperia PLAY includes EA’s Need For Speed, Sims 3 and a world-first multiplayer version of FIFA 10 for mobile. GLU Mobile/Activision will be bringing Guitar Hero, while Gameloft’s titles include Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell. Sony Ericsson is also partnering with Unity Technologies, using its award-winning development platform, to ensure a continuous flow of high quality 3D game titles.

Technical Characteristics of Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY:

• Supported communications standards: UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100 MHz (or CDMA2000, cdmaOne, EVDO; UMTS HSPA 900, 2100 MHz); GSM GPRS / EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Dimensions: 119 x 62 x16 mm
• Weight: 175 gr.
• Display: 4-inch touch screen (multitouch, capacitive), TFT, resolution 480 x 854 points
• Camera: 5.1 megapixel camera with autofocus
• Memory: 400 MB, microSD slot
• Processor: 1 GHz ARMv7
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 HS, AGPS, DLNA, 3.5 mm audio jack

According to Sony Ericsson, the smartphone will be coming to Australia in Q2 (April – June) 2011.

Sony Ericsson have also announced a docking station DK300 for the Xperia Play. When pluged in, the smartphone will automatically start the clock application.

The story of the new game is somewhat different from the original game. The original angry birds have been abducted and taken to the magical city of Rio. They will eventually have to escape from their captors, and rescue their new friends Blu and Jewel – rare macaws and main stars of the upcoming cartoon.

The new game would “introduce the millions of fans of Angry Birds to the exciting world of RIO,” a Fox spokesman said.

Angry Birds Rio gameplay will be based on the physics of the original game and some unique movements from the movie. The new game will have 45 levels, which will be constantly updated with the release of new updates. Angry Birds Rio will be available on smartphones and tablets.

And finally, a short trailer for the upcoming cartoon:

[via Kotaku]

The premise is simple: Go fast. Turn left, or right. Hit the brakes if you have to. I’ve spent a few minutes with the game, now available from the Android Market for $4.99. Download the app and fire it up, and you’ll be prompted to download the rest of the game data. That took just a couple minutes over Wi-Fi.

You’ll be introduced to a tutorial track first, where you’re alone on the road. That’s nice for getting a feel for the steering, and it took just a couple of laps to get the hang of things. You turn by tilting the phone left or right, and brake by pressing anywhere on the screen. You can change the difficulty and enable manual transmission, disable driving assist and braking, if you want.

You start out with two cars from which to choose – a Volkswagen Golf GTI and Mazda RX-8. As is the norm with games like this, you can purchase other cars and upgrades for existing cars as you win races and earn cash. The graphics are top-notch, as you’d expect from EA, and the soundtrack is as well. Depending on the device, you might well blow an eardrum. This one is well worth the $5 even if you’re only a casual fan of racing games.

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That means that they are making a lot of money via the advertisements. This was thought to be a strange move considering they charge for it on other platforms but as you can seem, it is making them a lot of money and a lot of new users. Take a look at their tweet in the feature image.

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Finally! One of the best iPhone games is now available on Android. Those who saw or played this game know what I’m talking about. And if you have not tried it yet, you should download it immediately.

The game is quite simple. Mean green pigs stole birds eggs. Birds have decided to return them at any cost, including the cost of their own lives. You play the role of a navigator, directing birdies on the target. Have a look at the screenshots for details.

Few words about how it works on Android phones, in particular on Nexus One. The game utilises full screen of the device, so you will not see any black bars or other artifacts. I doubt that they will appear on HTC Desire or Legend, so it should all be good. I couldn’t see any obvious issues with the performance, game levels get loaded quite quickly. Angry Little Birds has great sound effects and if I remember correctly, there isn’t much difference from that of the iPhone. This also applies to the graphics, by the way. The beta version is limited to 15 levels, which you will pass very quickly. I could not see any major bugs or glitches, so let’s hope that the full version will be released soon. Once you pass all 15 levels you will receive an offer to buy the full version of the game, but the link leads to a subscription page on manufacturer’s website, not to the actual game.

This is a great game, and I can’t wait for the full version to become available. Highly recommended!

This game is simple as two pennies, but it doesn’t affect its quality in any way or form. Simple and straightforward games should also be given the opportunity to show themselves. Let’s see what Abduction! has to offer.

The game is about a cow. The poor animal is forced to jump from platform to platform, so that in the end good aliens save it from the agony and take to the galaxy far far away.

There are several game modes available. The simplest of these is the Quick Play. This mode does not have a final goal: just jump and try not to drop the cow. You get points for each successful jump. If the cow dies, you can either save your result online or on your phone.

Other animals are periodically parachuted down – your goal is to collect as many of them as possible, as you get bonus points for each animal. You can also collect some additional gifts or bonuses – for example, extra life or additional platform, or even a higher jump.

Behind the Abduction! World Attack button you will find the main game modes that are available in the demo version. In the first of these modes, called Adventure, we strive to jump higher and higher level after level. Locations change, but you have the same goal – jump higher and higher. Your progress is shown on a little strip. Thanks to this strip it is quite easy to determine how much more you have to jump to be picked up by a UFO.

Challenge mode offers a time challenge. You will need to reach the top in a limited time.

In the settings you can calibrate the accelerometer, and enable or disable sound and vibration. You can also adjust the graphics/speed ration by moving a slider.

Game has a very cute, cartoonish graphics. Gameplay is quite interesting and a bit addictive. So we can say that the game achieves its main purpose – to entertain you for some time. Have a pleasant time with jumping cows.