Augmented reality is a concept that’s starting to get a lot of buzz so we wanted to take a minute to break down our history with the technology and provide a sneak peak at what could be next. There’s a popular misconception that augmented reality is just “kid’s stuff,” but with more than eight years of experience under our belt, we’ve found there’s a wide variety of compelling and cool AR experiences that everyone can enjoy. We spoke to some of our resident experts from Sony Computer Entertainment R&D and Product Development to get their take on augmented reality through our platforms.

Back in 2003, when smartphones, tablet PCs, and even decent webcams were far from mainstream, we launched EyeToy on PlayStation 2, which included our first foray into augmented reality. Back then it was the only way to see yourself on-screen interacting with virtual objects in real-time. We then brought that unique experience to a portable level on PSP. With games such as Invizimals or EyePet , mobility was a key element as the PSP camera turned the entire world around you into a game.

PlayStation 3 gave us a significant leap in image processing and, coupled with PlayStation Eye, enabled AR games such as The Eye of Judgment. Last year’s launch of PlayStation Move on PS3 brought titles like EyePet and Start the Party, which added ultra-precise movement recognition to the augmented reality experience, enabling you to interact with virtual objects on-screen using the PS Move motion controller.

We’re no stranger to innovation and every so often we’re able to create an experience that changes the way you think about games. At this year’s Game Developers Conference , we showed off demos of augmented reality on NGP—our Next Generation Portable device . NGP builds on our experience with augmented reality over the years with PlayStation 2/EyeToy, PSP, and PS3/PlayStation Move. With front and rear cameras that combine real-time images of you and your environment, a brilliant 5-inch multi-touch OLED screen and rear multi-touch pad, internal motion sensors, and dual analog sticks, NGP offers new ways to interact that will change the way you think about augmented reality games… and possibly even change the way you think about reality.

What do you think about augmented reality? Do you have an idea for the next killer app for augmented reality? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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The day we announced the Next Generation Portable, or NGP, was quite an eventful one. You might have followed the live blog, read the message from SCEA CEO Jack Tretton [Ed: or Andy House, here on the EU blog], seen the topics trending on Twitter (6 out of 10 worldwide at one point!), or read the hands-on impressions.

At the very end of the day, I had a chance to catch up with Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. While I knew I’d be unable to gather any more details than what was announced earlier in the day, I was curious about the broader aspects of the news: Why announce NGP now? Where does it fit into the PlayStation console life cycle philosophy? How did publishing partners like Epic Games and Activision get involved in the announcement? I hope you enjoy hearing these answers in detail directly from Mr. Hirai.

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Today in Tokyo, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. announced the next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP). NGP will make its debut at the end of the 2011, but here’s everything you need to know right now.

Key NGP features:

• Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
• Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
• Dual analog sticks
• Two cameras (front and rear)
• Software titles on small, dedicated flash memory-based cards
• Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
• Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
• PlayStation Network access, including “”LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support
• NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics and video from the PlayStation Store, as well as all games newly released via PlayStation Suite.

Technical Specs:

Games Shown or Mentioned (Titles Not Final):

• Killzone
• Uncharted
• WipEout
• LittleBigPlanet
• Call of Duty
• Resistance
• Little Deviants
• Hot Shots Golf
• Reality Fighters
• Gravity Daze
• Smart As
• Broken
• Hustle Kings

It’s still early going, so we understand that you likely have questions not addressed here. Details such as release date, price, and more will be announced in due course. We’ll keep you updated.

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For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Andy House and I am President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. I’ve not participated on the blog before, but with the announcements that were made a few hours ago in Japan, I thought that this would be an ideal time for me to write my maiden post.

In case you haven’t heard, earlier today in Tokyo, Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, introduced PlayStation’s portable gaming strategy, which included our much anticipated next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP), and details on our first foray into providing PlayStation content on Android based portable devices, via PlayStation Suite (PS Suite).

I’d like to start by introducing you to NGP. It is an innovative and powerful next generation portable entertainment system, built to deliver the ultimate gaming experience on the move.

At the heart of NGP is cutting-edge technology that will deliver the best performance and graphics, multiple control inputs for new ways to play and complete integration with PlayStation Network for a truly next generation portable gaming experience.

NGP introduces new ways to play and interact with PlayStation games, giving gamers and developers the biggest range of control inputs, offering the best gameplay experiences for all types of games. It features the much requested familiar two analogue sticks, as well as motion sensors, a front touch display, plus a unique multi-touch pad on the rear for a truly innovative gameplay experience. Coupled with a stunning 5″ OLED screen, NGP offers gamers the opportunity to experience quality handheld gaming that’s way beyond anything experienced in the portable market.

NGP will also be supported by an incredible software line-up with all titles being developed to maximise the capabilities of the system and provide the richest portable gaming experiences. I’m particularly excited to see that the best PlayStation exclusive franchises will be coming to NGP, including Uncharted, as well as fantastic new IPs that will provide ingenious uses of the NGP functions. And let’s not forget the incredible titles being provided by our 3rd party developers and publishers.

We have learnt a great deal from our previous experiences and as such will be distributing games both at retail and via the PlayStation Network. We want to give consumers the choice as to how they access the great content available on NGP.

For the first time on a PlayStation platform, we will be offering a choice of connectivity options – including 3G network support, providing a completely connected experience, fully integrated with PlayStation Network, allowing you to enjoy true social gaming, entertainment on demand and anytime, anywhere* communication with your PSN Friends.

I am extremely excited about the potential of this innovative and powerful next generation portable entertainment system, which has been built to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience.

NGP is the first step in our portable strategy as we start to offer PlayStation experiences to a wider audience than ever before. As well as offering the ultimate portable gaming experience, via NGP, we will also be introducing a new way to deliver PlayStation games, via PlayStation Suite.

Casual gaming on multi-purpose mobile devices is a growing market that we simply cannot neglect. With that in mind, PS Suite is a new initiative to offer PlayStation quality games on Android based portable devices, be it mobile phones, smartphones or tablet PCs. By offering a fantastic selection of legacy PlayStation games (PS one classics), alongside content made specifically for PS Suite, we believe that we will be offering the PlayStation experience to a wider base of users.

Via a program, called PlayStation Certified license program, we will work with hardware manufacturers to provide devices that optimize the gaming experience. We want to give consumers the freedom to choose between various devices when they wish to enjoy a certain piece of PlayStation content.

We also realise that PlayStation content should be provided through a secure and unique means, that is both reliable and user friendly. Therefore we also plan to open PlayStation Store to download content on the Android based portable devices. This is a significant move for us and one that we firmly believe will make PlayStation content more accessible than ever before.

So as you can see, today’s announcements we have set out our Portable Strategy for a significant length of time. We see huge potential in this market and with our experience and knowhow, believe that we can not only improve on the portable experiences previously offered by PlayStation, but make it more accessible to a wider audience.

If you want to see more about today’s announcements, visit www.playstation.com/psmeeting2011.

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