Sony Ericsson’s announcement of the Xperia Play (aka the PSP Phone) does not come as a surprise as the online community has already been actively discussing about it long before the official announcement. The Xperia Play runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and user can play PSP game titles. But before you start rejoicing and sell away your PSP on GameTrader.SG, do note that Xperia Play does not come with a UMD drive.This means owner of current UMD PSP games cannot port their game over to Xperia Play.

Apart from this, do not expect Xperia Play to have a whole suite of the PSP game library. Games for Xperia Play must be converted for its Android OS and thus the PSP games from the current PS Store will not work for Xperia Play. Instead of going to PS Store, user will have to go to a separate Sony Ericsson Online App Store.

Comparing Sony’s attempt to Nokia’s N-Gage, I feel that Xperia Play may be able to garner more buyers than its N-Gage counterpart. N-Gage’s failure is caused mainly by the lack of support from game developer resulting in a poor library of titles. The greatest rival to date for Play is ironically the recently announced NGP (Next-Generation PSP). With all the attention now mainly on NGP, developers may unlikely produce titles for this new device. While we are not sure whether the conversion process of PSP titles to Android-friendly ones will require much work from the game developer, if that is true, Xperia Play may have trouble tapping on the current PSP library of games. Developers may simply feel that such investment is not needed.

To me, the price tag will now be an important factor. If Xperia Play which is running Android (my current favorite OS) comes at a competitive price compared to say Samsung’s Android phone or iPhone, I may consider getting one when my mobile plan expires. However, if the price is $150-$250 more than a usual decent android smartphone, I will rather get a NGP when it comes out.

For more information on Xperia Play, check out Engadget.com.

Cheers! I’ve recently bought a Wii set, and it is a really great system. PS2 graphics aside, it really gives you a different kind of fun from the PS3. And it is really enjoyable to play a game with the whole family, even adding a few relatives would be fine. A good choice to buy it so far, well so far that is.

The thing is, I have been wondering if my choice over Kinect had been a right one. Recently I saw a Kinect demonstration at IMM. People were playing table tennis (GO WII SPORTS RESORT!) with their bare hands. The funny thing was, their hands were shaped like a bats. This may look normal to everybody, but if you change your vantage point you would see something different. This controllerless technology isn’t really that controllerless after all. An irony hidden well between the lines.

Of course, this is very natural. Since time immemorial, people have had been using tools to do various things, from cooking to writing to even personal pleasure. It has been wired in our systems to use tools for majority of the tasks that we do. So essentially what the Kinect does is it detects the “controller” that our hands are trying to imitate. That is where the limitation of Kinect lies, at least that is what I believe.

Just think about it. While it would be easy to detect equipment like tennis rackets and baseball bats, the challenge would be at objects that have more detail. Take rifles and pistols for example. I am not a technical expert, but I believe that the minute action of one pulling an imaginary trigger would be pretty difficult for the Kinect to detect. This means that shooting games might be out for Kinect. According to Gamespot, shooting games account for 38% of the Last 12 Months Top 50 PC games. It also accounts for 40% and 52% for All Time Top 50 games for PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively. That is one hell of a market that Kinect might be missing out on.

Onto the next lucrative market – Role Playing Games. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft series have been great hits, among other free to play MMORPG games like Maplestory and Dragonica. Even single player RPGs like Dragon Age: Origins and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are now all time classics. But imagining RPG games on the Kinect seems to be a little tough. While melee weapons like swords and staffs might be possible, the tricky part lies with ranged weapons. Bows and guns have the same problem highlighted earlier, and it is puzzling as to how one will control a mage. Perhaps a wave of the hand will cast frost bolt.

With so many barriers of entry for the Kinect into the top 2 markets, it really seems to have a tough time ahead. Right now my eyes are on PS3 move.