PlayStation Phone is finally (officially) real

The worst kept secret in the cell phone world has finally been formally acknowledged. Sony Ericsson has taken the wraps off of the Xperia Play, better known as the PlayStation Phone.

Verizon will be the sole distributor of the device starting this March. The phone will be supported by a catalog of up to 50 games, with four titles preloaded onto the device.

The phone, which uses the Android operating system, will ship with "Asphalt Adrenaline 6," "Bruce Lee," "Star Battalion," "The Sims 3," and "Tetris" included, says the company. Games available through the recently announced PlayStation Suite (a downloadable store of PlayStation games for Android devices) will include "Guitar Hero," "Assassin's Creed," "Dead Space" and "Reckless Racing".

Android gamers who have been hungry for a richer catalog of games might be excited, but they were hardly surprised. The Xperia Play has been written about extensively and one tech side even offered a hands on preview long before Sony was ready to talk about the device. The company also gave the world a sneak peak in an especially creepy commercial during this year's Super Bowl.

So far, Sony isn't talking pricing for the phone, which looks similar to the PSP Go, comes with a four-inch touchscreen and offers a 5.1 megapixel camera. Look for that to be announced in the coming weeks. Battery life will range from five-and-a-half hours of game play to nearly eight-and-a-half hours of talk time.