PS Vita's AR cards

Sony has been keen on bringing augmented reality games to their portable system since the 2009 PSP release of Invizimals, which offered a Pokémon type of gameplay where you capture and raise creatures to battle them. Unlike Pokémon though, real world surrounds had to be explored to find these creatures, which is only possible via the use of augmented reality technology and a camera mounted on the PSP. The game went on to spawn a sequel and has since been a staple of the PSP library.

Long-time Sony fans know that augmented reality didn’t actually start with Invizimals; it goes further back to 2003 with the release of the EyeToy, which offered numerous controller-less motion controlled augmented reality games throughout the years and was the beginnings of the PlayStation Move, which has also pushed augmented reality gaming further with the EyePet series.

PS Vita is looking to take augmented reality game’s another step further through the use of Wide-Area Augmented Reality (WAAR). Where Nintendo's 3DS uses a single AR card to produce an image and centre point of focus to play augmented reality mini games, Vita takes this to an entirely new level by being able to focus on multiple cards at once. This creates pseudo-realities out of everyday things in life and the amazing effects can be seen first-hand in the video below:

Upcoming games like Reality Fighters and Tag already show that developers are interested in the augmented reality features that Vita can offer. But how far will augmented realities actually go with Vita in the future? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

[source playstationlifestyle.net]