Feb 14, 2011 08:40 GMT  ·  By

After a lot of rumors, leaks and speculation, Sony Ericsson, Sony's mobile division, has finally revealed to the world the new Xperia Play device, the first actual PlayStation Phone.

Seeing as how mobile gaming is becoming more and more important these days, Sony was rumored to be preparing a phone version of its PlayStation Portable console for quite some time.

Now, it has finally come true, as Sony Ericsson officially revealed the PlayStation Phone, or the Xperia Play, as it will actually be called when it hits the market next month.

"This Spring, expect to see a lot of people with their heads down and thumbs up," said Peter Farmer, head of Marketing for North America, Sony Ericsson. "Xperia PLAY combined with the power of the Verizon Wireless network gives you everything you need in a smartphone and the one thing you want – the ultimate gaming experience."

Rikko Sakaguchi, Executive Vice President and Chief Creation Officer at Sony Ericsson commented: “Today is a very proud moment for Sony Ericsson as we bring something truly revolutionary to the market. Living up to our vision of Communication Entertainment, Xperia PLAY will forever change the way people think about smartphones and mobile gaming.

The Xperia Play is set to be the company's flagship Android device, as it's running on Google's newest 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, but will pack in lots of PlayStation-exclusive goodies.

Among them, we have the new PlayStation Suite service, which was detailed by Sony a few weeks ago. It promises to offer special PlayStation titles, most of them made for the original PlayStation 1, for all sorts of Android devices, not just the Xperia Play.

Check out some of the key features of the PlayStation Phone below.

*PlayStation Certified gaming experience *Latest version of the Android platform (Gingerbread version 2.3) *60fps play-back enabled through the Snapdragon 1Ghz processor, optimized with enhanced graphical processor unit the Adreno 205 *Dedicated gaming controls for real console quality game play, including four-way directional keys, recognizable ABCD keys with PlayStation iconography, left/right shoulder keys and two analog touch inputs for joystick action *4-inch brilliant multi-touch display *5.0 megapixel camera

According to Kotaku, the phone will come pre-loaded with five games, Asphalt Adrenaline 6, Bruce Lee, Star Battalion, The Sims 3, and Tetris.

Preliminary specs show that the Xperia Play will be capable of supporting non-stop gaming for about 5 and a half hours, which is pretty respectable and in line with what the current PlayStation Portable offers.

Are you interested in the new PlayStation Phone or will you be holding out for Sony' Next Generation Portable device that will appear around the end of the year?