Sony NGP to get augmented reality games

The Nintendo 3DS will bring AR gaming to handhelds first when it ships on 27 March – but Sony Computer Entertainment director, Tsutomu Horikawa, says the Sony NGP (Next Generation Portable) will take it further.

After revealing a 20-foot-tall T-Rex at the conference (virtually) he announced that gamers will have a “Near” function that uses 3G to enable location-based gaming, including real-world treasure hunts (virtual treasure only for now). Those without 3G will be located using Skyhook, a service that uses wireless hotspots to pinpoint their location.

Get used to living life through a camera, as the NGP will be able to capture real-life textures for use in games like LittleBigPlanet. There’s even a passive camera for snapping your mug shot and putting your head on an avatar. Reality is starting to loose its meaning fast.

Also…

Need to Know – Sony PSP 2 (aka NGP)

IMHO – Sony’s PSP 2 is too much, too late

Gaming Top 10

Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home