Sony Ericsson’s Android smartphone, Xperia Play, is shaping up to be an impressive platform for hand-held gaming, with a sleek-looking PlayStation-style game pad and the official tech specs revealing an Adreno GPU graphics processor that will deliver 60fps play-back.

A large proportion of the people queuing up to get their hands on the new Android smartphone will undoubtedly be PlayStation gamers who are lured by the promise of slick PSN integration and enticed by the luxury of playing some of their favourite games on the move.

As a PS3 owner, who has purchased many classic, arcade and mini titles via the PSN, I’m looking forward to picking up the new PlayStation Phone, linking my PSN ID to Xperia Play and downloading some of the games that I’ve been enjoying on the PS3. I had assumed, however, that as I’d already purchased these games from the PlayStation Store - and the fact that I’d be using my PSN ID on my smartphone - that I wouldn’t have to pay again for the games I’ve already downloaded. It seems, however, I will.

Nathan Vautier, managing director for Sony Ericsson UK and Ireland has told Gamespot that content bought from the PlayStation Store will have to be re-bought if you want to play it on Xperia Play. Okay, so it’s probably not going to be a life-changing amount of money to shell out to buy a compatible game, but surely it’s a move that will alienate some gamers - those very people who are likely to be the early adopters to Xperia Play. It won't be unreasonable for them to feel that Sony is just trying to milk them for every last penny.

It also begs the question: will we have to pay to download that content again for the NGP, the successor to the PSP2? Perhaps it’s too complicated a system to implement on Xperia Play and link all those PSN IDs with what you’ve already downloaded on the PlayStation Store? Whatever the reason behind the charges, however, it’s still not great news for those who didn’t think they’d have to shell out twice for identical content.

Xperia Play is due for release in March.