Sony is investing heavily into augmented reality technology. At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the company unveiled its new gaming platform, the PS Vita. The system drew much acclaim from audiences in attendance for its innovative use of AR technology. Now Sony is furthering their venture into the field of AR by partnering with Novarama Technology, a game developer based in Spain. Novarama is well known as being one of the only game developers to focus almost exclusively on AR titles.
Novarama has entered into an exclusivity deal with Sony to produce AR games for their multiple gaming platforms. At E3, Sony showed off one of the games Novarama is developing for the PS Vita, titled Reality Fighters. The game uses the cameras built into the handheld Vita to map out virtual characters and superimpose them on the real world environment. These characters interact with each other and with their surroundings, showing that augmented reality is capable of more than just pretty graphical overlays.
Dani Sanchez-Crespo, CEO of Novarama, expressed his excitement for working with Sony in a statement released early yesterday. “These are exciting times to be a part of the Sony family,” he said. “With the PS Vita, the possibilities for creativity are endless.”
Augmented reality is still new territory for gaming. Sony was able to catch the interest of the audiences at E3 with their AR demos, but whether the technology will fare well in the commercial market remains to be seen.
