PlayStation Phone Out in March

Sony Ericsson has officially announced that its PlayStation-branded Xperia Play phone will hit the world "in March" running Android and with a four-inch multitouch screen and up to five hours and 35 minutes of 3D gaming time.

The Beeb has video of the announcement here.

As we already knew the unit has a a slide out PlayStation-style controller with the standard PlayStation circle, cross, square and triangle button, a d-pad, two analogue touch pads and two shoulder buttons.

According to The Guardian, Sony says that the phone will be able to provide,"silky smooth 60fps 3D mobile gaming", and "It will be the first Google Android handset to comply with Sony's PlayStation certification scheme, which means it will have access to a range of classic PlayStation titles. The PlayStation Suite programme, will launch later this year."

Consumers can expect to play EA's Sims 3, Need for Speed and FIFA 10; Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell; and Namco Bandai will be bringing Tekken. Surprisingly, Activision has Guitar Hero in the wings... apparently.

Orange, T-Mobile, O2, 3 and Vodafone will all support the phone in the UK.