Games on the go

The iPhone’s success hasn’t just rattled rival cellphone companies—it’s also sounded alarms among video game console makers, who fear cute, addictive mini-games like Angry Birds (the most downloaded application from Apple Inc.’s App Store) are rapidly positioning the iPhone as a gaming platform. Now Sony, which makes the PlayStation console, is fighting back with a new Xperia Play phone, which features a slide-out controller and is “PlayStation-certified.” The device is made by Sony Ericsson (partner in the joint venture) and runs Google’s popular Android operating system. A recent Super Bowl ad left little doubt that Sony is indeed targeting gamers, not your average smartphone user. The spot shows a couple of thugs, inside a dirty warehouse, stitching a pair of human thumbs on the green, cylindrical arms of the Android robot mascot—not unlike something you might run into while playing Resident Evil.