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Rumor: PS Phone to be called 'Xperia Play'. To hit shops in April [Update Post 108]

L

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
The Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone will hit shops in April, after a February Mobile World Congress launch, sources close to the matter have confirmed to Pocket-lint.

The news will be a blow to those heading to Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show, hoping to see the new Android powered PlayStation phone next month.

Instead, Pocket-lint has learnt that the phone will be launched at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, at Sony Ericsson's press conference on the Sunday evening.

However, those expecting to be able to play the latest games when they hit the slopes in the February half term will be disappointed. Sources have confirmed to Pocket-lint that it won’t be out until April in the UK.

Source1



We've been hoodwinked by trademark filing and domain registrations before (cough, BlackPad and SurfBook) so we wouldn't say this is anywhere near definite, but we just caught wind of a Sony Ericsson EU trademark registration for "Xperia Play," and SE PR firm Jung Relations has registered a variety of Xperia Play domain names, including XperiaPlay.com, .net, and .org. Yes, that certainly sounds like a promising name for the PlayStation Phone (although not quite as promising as, you know, "PlayStation Phone,") but honestly we wouldn't bet on anything at this point. We've got a feeling we'll either find out either at CES or at MWC in February -- hold on tight. SE also registered Xperia Arc, Xperia Duo, and Xperia Neo, so now our interest is definitely piqued. And our hopes are totally shatter-able.

Source2.
 
B

badcrumble

Member
i hope this is only the beginning of a huge rebranding and that sony's next home console will be called the Xperia Qriocity instead of the ps4
 
P

PSGames

Junior Member
Nuclear Muffin said:
I think we can write this one off as a failure folks.
Click to expand...

I dunno man. If someone is looking for an Android phone why wouldn't they get this one if it's reasonably priced and has better gaming than the alternatives?

Plus I'm sure they'll make it so PSPhone games can be easily ported to the PSP2 so developers essentially have 2 markets they can hit with their titles.
 
L

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
PSGames said:
I dunno man. If someone is looking for an Android phone why wouldn't they get this one if it's reasonably priced and has better gaming than the alternatives?

Plus I'm sure they'll make it so PSPhone games can be easily ported to the PSP2 so developers essentially have 2 markets they can hit with their titles.
Click to expand...
Well, if the PSP2 is really powerful, the last thing it wants is to developers seeing the Phone platform as the more attractive to target for.
 
A

androvsky

Member
PSGames said:
I dunno man. If someone is looking for an Android phone why wouldn't they get this one if it's reasonably priced and has better gaming than the alternatives?

Plus I'm sure they'll make it so PSPhone games can be easily ported to the PSP2 so developers essentially have 2 markets they can hit with their titles.
Click to expand...

The way this is working out, I wouldn't be surprised if SCE outright banned "Xperia Play" titles from appearing on any of their other platforms. :lol Well, until Sir Howard finds out, of course.
 
J

JustAnotherOtaku

Member
KamenSenshi said:
Good to see they really aren't letting them use the PS name for this. Gotta keep em separated.
Click to expand...

True, makes sense given that Xperia is the name of an already exisiting range of Sony Ericsson phones. Calling it the Playstation Phone is just going to create confusion between it and the upcoming PSP2.
 
G

Guevara

Member
badcrumble said:
i hope this is only the beginning of a huge rebranding and that sony's next home console will be called the Xperia Qriocity instead of the ps4
Click to expand...

:lol I can almost believe it too.
 
S

Sipowicz

Banned
i actually wouldn't mind if sony rebranded the playstation. it obviously hasn't done that well for them this gen so a fresh start might be just what they need
 
S

sajj316

Member
Lonely1 said:
Well, if the PSP2 is really powerful, the last thing it wants is to developers seeing the Phone platform as the more attractive to target for.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I DO NOT want to see the PSP brand split between Phone and version 2 of the PSP. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

This news is making me constipated ... where's the Xperia Ex-lax?
 
S

Sipowicz

Banned
i dont think you'll see development resources going to the psp phone. all they need to do is make it capable of playing minis and then no-one has to make any proper games for it ever
 
L

Lkr

Member
why doesn't Sony just develop games for the android marketplace and then they can make more money :\
 
P

PSGames

Junior Member
Lonely1 said:
Well, if the PSP2 is really powerful, the last thing it wants is to developers seeing the Phone platform as the more attractive to target for.
Click to expand...

Not every PSP2 game will be a marquee title. You will have budget games and what not which would be perfect for the PSPhone as well.

Lkr said:
why doesn't Sony just develop games for the android marketplace and then they can make more money :\
Click to expand...

Because they want to sell phones.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Infinite Justice said:
post if your ok gofreak.
Click to expand...

:p

I can only hope it's a precursor to to a fuller integration in the future. Either this platform into PSP or going the other way, PSP into phones.
 
Jinfash

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
Nuclear Muffin said:
I think we can write this one off as a failure folks.
Click to expand...
Basically this. The only selling point I thought the device had was the "Playstation" brand.
 
S

somuchwater

Member
Jinfash said:
Basically this. The only selling point I thought the device had was the "Playstation" brand.
Click to expand...

Well, we know the game app itself will be called Playstation. And from that vid, it has the same fonts etc. as the PSP. So there's definitely some brand overlap here.

It's just that Sony probably wanted to make sure no-one bought this device thinking it was a PSP or a PSP2.

I'm not optimistic at all for this device's prospects, though. I just can't see it building enough critical mass to be successful.

Prove me wrong SE! Prove me wrong.
 
C

charlequin

Banned
This will always be XPERIA GAMEFONE to me. :`(

Sipowicz said:
i actually wouldn't mind if sony rebranded the playstation.
Click to expand...

Even in its tarnished state, the PlayStation brand is far more valuable than scrapping it would be.
 
L

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Unless they make a phone that can access PSN and download and play PSP and future PSP2 from there, it's nothing but for the best that this doesn't have Playstation in its name. Only confusion and brand dilution could come out of it.

Sipowicz said:
i actually wouldn't mind if sony rebranded the playstation. it obviously hasn't done that well for them this gen so a fresh start might be just what they need
Click to expand...
Even if they do that, it would be dumb to keep the same name for the incompatible phone line, as whatever they'd rebrand PS to. This is essentially an android gaming friendly phone. Nothing wrong with that, but being completely incompatible with anything PS related, would make it bad to keep it in the same line of products.
 
S

Sipowicz

Banned
charlequin said:
This will always be XPERIA GAMEFONE to me. :`(



Even in its tarnished state, the PlayStation brand is far more valuable than scrapping it would be.
Click to expand...


they could call it playstation x

where x is some weird new word

scrapping it altogether might be risky but calling it ps4 or psp 2 just sounds played out. look at what the wii did for nitnendo
 
B

badcrumble

Member
charlequin said:
Even in its tarnished state, the PlayStation brand is far more valuable than scrapping it would be.
Click to expand...
Not to mention Sony is still hanging on to the goddamn Walkman brand. Once Sony puts money into a brand and makes it successful, they cling to it forever, no matter what.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Lord Error said:
Unless they make a phone that can access PSN and download and play PSP and future PSP2 from there, it's nothing but for the best that this doesn't have Playstation in its name. Only confusion and brand dilution could come out of it.


Even if they do that, it would be dumb to keep the same name for the incompatible phone line, as whatever they'd rebrand PS to. This is essentially an android gaming friendly phone. Nothing wrong with that, but being completely incompatible with anything PS related, would make it bad to keep it in the same line of products.
Click to expand...

I think like you say, they're risking this brand weirdness as is. The Playstation livery is unmistakable, the app/interface/store thing is called 'Playstation' etc.

I think if the phone isn't going to play PSP or PSP2 games or whatever, then the answer should come in the opposite direction - that PSP2 plays the phone's games, those games made available through this app, in lieu of a new minis platform. That, I think, could make sense to consumers, justify the branding etc. Depending on how involved SCE is in support for this, for Android, floating their own new minis platform while supporting Android would indeed be hugely confusing.
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Why would you do that? said:
Why is this the first thing I thought of...?
Click to expand...

Probably because it sounds very much like Tales of VESperia (intentional caps for emphasis)
 
O

Oli

Registered User
"Now you're Playing with Xperia"

Somebody tell Sony to hire me for advertising campaigns.
 
D

DMeisterJ

Banned
Chittagong said:
:lol Xperia Play

the PlayStation division isn't letting them drag down the brand, power to them!
Click to expand...

:lol Truth


Infinite Justice said:
isn't that one of the reasons the PS3 is still going
Click to expand...

Not necessarily... It's the reason the PS3 didn't die out of the gate, but the reason the PS3 is 'still going' has more to do with the good things Sony has done for the system post-launch. The PlayStation name enabled the PS3 not to be stillborn though.
 
R

Ravidrath

Member
Awesomely terrible name, and pretty Sony-sounding, given the new Qriosity thing.

Glad they realized they needed to keep the PlayStation brand far, far away from that thing.
 
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