Xperia Play Detailed: First U.S. Carrier and Release Window

After officially revealing the existence of the Xperia Play with acommercialduring the Super Bowl, Sony Ericsson has formally introduced the device during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress event today. After many leaks revealing just about all there was to know about it, we did get two especially important details today: Its first carrier in the United States and a release window.

The Xperia Play will begin shipping worldwide in March. Verizon Wireless will be the first carrier in the U.S. to have the phone -- it'll be releasing it sometime in"early spring."It's a major coup for Verizon after finally getting its hands on the iPhone this month.

The presentation was filled with all the hyperbolic statements you'd expect -- it's a"revolutionary milestone in our industry,""it's a killer new form of entertainment,"and other similar comments were presented with an awkward shtick. Mixed in with all that was some actual information that will be of interest to gamers: 50 games will be available at launch, all of which are"optimized"for the phone. A PlayStation Store for the phone will launch later this year. At launch, it will ship with a"legendary"PlayStation One game that was not identified.

Support from many developers was promised -- Electronic Arts, Gameloft, and Glu Mobile (which has worked with Activision, Atari, PopCap, Konami, and other game companies in the past) were named. Unity Technologies was also thanked for its support; it's noteworthy for its game engine that powers many games that can now be ported to the Play. Confirmed for the system, though not necessarily for launch, were Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, Dead Space, and Guitar Hero, the latter of which felt like a stange announcement given what hashappenedrecently.Dungeon Defenders Second Wavewas played on stage and will launch first on the Xperia Play.

The phone runs on the latest Android release, Gingerbread (version 2.3), and is available for MWC attendees to try out, so expect to be hearing impressions over the next few days. A price and exact release date are two of the remaining details Verizon now needs to officially announce. With the phone shipping next month, it shouldn't be a long wait.

{Image courtesy ofEngadget.}

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