SKorea's LG touts Optimus 3D smartphone for gaming (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea – LG Electronics is touting 3-D smartphones as an alternative to dedicated handheld game devices.

The company launched its LG Optimus 3-D phone Thursday in South Korea after beginning a global release last month covering more than 60 markets including Spain and Britain. No special glasses are required to view 3-D content on the phone.

Park Jong-seok, CEO of LG's mobile communications business, said that 3-D smartphones such as the Optimus can hold their own against dedicated handheld gaming platforms.

"The era of dedicated handheld gaming is over," he said in a release.

Success with the 3-D phone would be welcome for the South Korean company, which has been struggling to overcome weakness in mobile phones. LG's mobile communications business has suffered four straight quarterly operating losses.

LG Electronics Co. is the world's third-largest mobile phone manufacturer behind No. 1 Nokia Corp. of Finland and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co.

LG unveiled the new device, its first 3-D smartphone, earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Spain and began rolling it out in global markets last month.

LG said the phone comes pre-installed with three full versions of games from Gameloft including "Asphalt 6: Adrenaline."

"You can actually now play exciting 3D games, advanced 3D games directly on your mobile phone," said Alexandre Tan, Gameloft's director of business development, said at a launch event Thursday in Seoul. "Clearly this is the next big thing for both the gaming and the mobile industry."

The LG Optimus 3-D can record and play back 3-D content. LG is not alone in launching such a phone. Taiwan's top smartphone maker HTC Corp. is also out with its EVO 3-D smartphone

LG spokesman Ken Hong said the LG Optimus 3-D phone will be available later this summer in the United States as the LG Thrill 4G.

Sony touts some of the launch titles for the NGP

Earlier today Sony showed off the PSP 2, which is now known as the NGP. Along with an impressive list of hardware specs, it also showed an impressive list of launch titles that will include and Uncharted game, Killzone and Call of Duty.

Sony’s new handheld device, the NGP (or PSP 2 as it remains in our hearts…), is a beast. It is a hardware powerhouse that will impress almost everyone. It is the hot rod of the handheld systems, with a chipset that would make a desktop PC jealous.

But even if it were powerful enough to run the world, if the games aren’t any good, who will care? If the games were terrible, the NGP would quickly become the most powerful gadget in the discount bin. Anyone remember Sony’s minidisc and the problems they had getting music formatted for the system? So, now that the NGP is official, the question becomes what games will we be able to play on it. Although Sony hasn’t officially announced any specific games, it has released a list of franchises that will be coming to the PSP 2-er… the NGP.

Among the first wave of games will be the following series:

•Killzone

•Uncharted

•WipEout

•LittleBigPlanet

•Call of Duty

•Resistance

•Little Deviants

•Hot Shots Golf

•Reality Fighters

•Gravity Daze

•Smart As

•Broken

•Hustle Kings

It wasn’t clear whether or not the franchises would release new games specifically for the NGP, or if they would adapt existing titles to play on the handheld device. Regardless, the lineup is filled with heavy hitters. Although it won’t be out until months after Nintendo’s 3DS, the potential of the games seems much stronger for Sony, with several million copy sellers–not to mention Call of Duty, which has become somewhat, you know, popular, what with the billion dollars the last version made, and all.

Sony has not yet given a release date (or price) for the NGP, other than sometime in this holiday season—although that might only be for Japan which would push the U.S. release into 2012. Regardless, more launch title announcements are sure to come in the following weeks and months, as the PSP 2–sorry, NGP—moves towards release.