When Sony Ericsson launched the Xperia Play last year, one of the primary concerns was a dearth of games to take advantage of its PlayStation-style slide-out gamepad. Those concerns appear to have been unfounded: AndroidGuys reports that the company confirmed the availability of more than 200 Xperia Play-optimized Android games. That doesn’t hold a candle to the wide array of games availabe on the Android Market, or for that matter, any major gaming console you’d care to mention, but it’s an impressive feat none the less.

Most of these games are stand-alone, high profile titles from the likes of EA and Gameloft, but there’s a pretty good selection of more indie-style games to choose from as well. The Android version of OCD enabler Minecraft premiered on the device, and months before a standard Android Market release. If you’re rocking the Play, try searching for “Xperia Play optimized” in the Market to get a good look at what’s available.

Sony has promised an Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Xperia Play, and all current Xperia phones, sometime in 2012. That’s a good thing, since we haven’t seen hide nor hair of an updated model, and with quad-core processors becoming the new standard for high performance, one would not go amiss. If you happen to have an Xperia Play and an Android tablet, be sure to try the latest version of DroidMote – it’s a great, geeky way to get that console experience on a bigger screen.