Sony has announced Project Field, a new card game platform that will integrate with smartphones and tablets, giving additional functionality to playing cards. The upcoming card collection platform was unveiled during a presentation by Sony and ForwardWorks on Wednesday, Dec. 7.
According to Sony, Project Field will use a specially developed pad equipped with an IC reader, sensors, and Bluetooth. When a player places a card on the pad, it is read by an NFC-like wireless technology, which transmits the card's position and movement to a tablet or smartphone. The card is thus both writable and readable, allowing players to save their in-game status. They can also "grow" characters based on the stats stored in the cards. The card's real-world actions are thus translated into a digital version of the player's gadget, bringing the playing cards to life and adding a whole new layer of interaction to the game.
Digital Trends says that the concept of Project Field was initially developed to support the "Yo-kai Watch" card game. As a result, the Field pad in Project Field can track the real-world playing cards, identify which cards are which, and animate the characters on each card via a tablet or smartphone. The Project Field pad also tracks the cards' stats and stores the data for future games.
According to Engadget, Project Field is part of Sony's bid to get the PlayStation games into mobile phones. And with the increasing popularity of augmented reality toys and mobile games, Sony is purportedly trying to jump on the trend with its upcoming gaming system. The outlet also notes that this isn't the first augmented reality card game -- Japanese arcades have featured similar technology -- though the integration of tablets and smartphones is new.
Sony says that it already has multiple games in development for Project Field. Unfortunately, it is currently geared solely for Japanese gamers. The first title for Project Field is "Yo-kai Watch."
