New Xperia Play Backstab game Ad pops up [Video]

Imagine if the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed took place during the 18th century in the Caribbean. That’s the vibe behind Gamaeloft’s
 “Backstab,” which we reported last month was coming to the Sony-Ericcson Xperia Play exclusively for the first month or so. A new video of Backstab’s game play has surfaced telling more about the back story. Backstab casts the gamer as character Henry Blake, a former British naval officer unjustly imprisoned for treason and has escaped to go on a mission of vengeance.

Gamers have to escape the Caribbean Prison and then proceed to wreak havoc around the island. There’s a lot of swordplay and I really dig the blue glow of the blade as it swings. But it seems the main goal of the game, cool as it is, is just to kill. There’s no secret to uncover or treasure to find. Just vengeance, blood and death.

It’s certainly going to be popular with the teen crowd looking to kill a few hours as an excuse to avoid doing their homework. But will it have legs beyond a few hours of hack and slash? Only time will tell. Backstab will be exclusive to the Xperia Play, for about a month or so, starting April 18th. Then, it’ll move on to other Android platforms, as well as iOS.



 

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Xperia Play Games Could Cost as Much as $15

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is coming next month in the U.S., but what about the games? How much are you willing to pony up to play old PlayStation 1 games and new downloadable games on the Android-powered smartphone/gaming handheld device? No more than $5? Maybe sling some birds at those poor pigs in  Angry Birds and call it gaming session? In an interview with Sony Ericsson UK’s head of marketing, David Hilton says that games on the Xperia Play will range from $1.50-$16. Downloadable games on Sony’s PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable are currently priced roughly the same with most games coming in at $10-$15, so Hilton’s estimate doesn’t sound completely unheard of. Keep in mind that Hilton is from the UK, so pricing could be a slightly different when the Xperia play reaches your neck of the woods.

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Xperia Play and XPeria Arc pre-order for free on contact from Vodaphone

British hand held gamers rejoice! Vodaphone is offering pre-order of the
Sony-Ericsson Xperia Play for FREE with contract. Users who sign up before April first will also receive a free deckstand and six preloaded games (Crash Bandicoot, Fifa 10, Star Battalion, Tetris, Sims 3, Bruce Lee). In addition to the Xperia Play, users who just want a basic Android experience can also preorder the Xperia Arc for free on contract as well.

As outlined here on AC, The Xperia Play is Sony’s first PlayStation certified phone. It has Qualcomm’s optimized Snapdragon processor with a 1GHz CPU and embedded Adreno GPU graphics processor. Other specs include a 4″ TFT screen with Sony’s proprietary Bravia display engine, slide up gaming controls, 5 MP rear facing camera, and it comes with six Playstation One games preloaded out of the box. It will also take advantage of the Tegra Game Network thanks to it’s Playstation Suite of up to 60 games being released over the next year.

The Xperia Arc has a similar 4.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with Reality Display and Mobile Bravia Engine. It’ll be powered by a 1 Ghz processor. It has dual cameras including an 8.1 MP rear facing and front facing Webcam. The 8.1MP is loaded as it can record 720p HD video at 30 frames per second and has Sony’s remarkable Face Tracking utility. Both phones will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box.

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Android Community at CTIA Wireless 2011

Android Community is hard at work at CTIA Wireless 2011, the annual mobile confab which this year is in Orlando, Florida. We’re expecting a ton of wireless news including stories on Android phones and even more tablets. In fact, news has already been leaked that AT&T is bringing the Nexus S 4G, with it’s pure Google Android experience, to mobile customers this year along with the LG Thrill 4G and HTC HD7S.

Sprint has already teased that they plan to release a wide range of devices including the 4G HTC Flyer tablet. But they’re also going all in with Google Voice services in a move that will certain have ripples as the confab continues this week. T-Mobile, who recently got swallowed up by AT&T, is still here and are bringing the HTC Pyramid and Doubleshot along with them. And it’s even more important now that AT&T has decided that all T-Mobile customers will have to transition to 4G phones after the merger.

Samsung is going to be launching it’s mid-size 8.9 inch Galaxy Tab here in Orlando, as a part of the 78910 marketing campaign we teased here earlier this month. The campaign clearly means marketing of the entire 7, 8.9 and 10.1 inch line of Galaxy Tabs. And then there’s LG, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and it’s new Xperia Play, and we’re sure tons of tablet stories. So stay tuned for all our show coverage with the CTIA 2011 tag, and of course follow along on the Android Community homepage!

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