The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, known as the PlayStation phone, will make its debut in the U.S. on May 26 for $199.99 with a two-year Verizon contract, the carrier announced Tuesday.
Users can start pre-ordering the Android-based smartphone on May 19 at verizonwireless.com; it will hit stores six days later.
The device, which will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread, slides up to reveal PlayStation gaming controls. It will come pre-loaded with seven game titles, including "Madden NFL 11," "Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior," "Asphalt 6: Adrenaline," "The Sims 3," "Star Battalion," "Crash Bandicoot," and "Tetris." There will also be more than 50 game titles available for download at launch via V Cast Apps.
The Xperia Play features a 4-inch multi-touch screen, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, and VGA front-facing camera for video chat. Gaming controls include 4-way directional buttons and AB keys for smartphone navigation as well as for multi-key gaming commands.
It is powered by a Snapdragon, 1-GHz CPU and the Adreno 205 graphical processor, optimized for advanced gaming and allowing 60 frames per second play-back. It comes with 8GB of available space, which can be increased to 32GB. The Xperia Play supports Adobe Flash Player and its mobile hotspot capability can share a 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
For more, see PCMag's hands-ons with the device at Mobile World Congress and the CTIA Wireless trade show, and the slideshow below.
The Xperia Play launched in Europe and Asia on April 1.
Sony's PlayStation network, however, has taken a beating in the press lately after a sophisticated hack took down the PSN for almost a month. The PSN went offline on April 20, with Sony Online Entertainment following several days later. Some services started coming back online on Sunday, but issues remain.