Sony Ericsson to launch new gaming phone range

Motion sensor gaming to come to its entire camera phone range

29 May 2008 20:42 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Sony Ericsson is hoping to become the Nintendo Wii of the mobile phone industry following a deal with a company that turns your phone’s camera into a motion-controlling sensor.

Pocket-lint has learnt that the mobile phone giant has signed a deal with Californian company GestureTek to bring their software to Sony Ericsson's handsets in September.

The software, which is the same as currently used on Sony’s EyeToy device for the PlayStation 2, will work with new and old phones alike and will use the phone’s camera to sense movement.

Gamers will be able to directly control gaming characters on screen by tilting the phone in a similar way to more expensive handsets with an accelerometer like the LG Secret or Apple iPhone.

Current games include Crash Banicoot and Super Monkey Ball.

The move is likely to propel Sony Ericsson as a gaming brand and could see the launch of a dedicated PlayStation handset as previously rumoured. It would also give the Swedish operator an alternative offering for consumers to Nokia’s N-Gage platform.