Sony surprised the audience at the E3 video-game show tonight with the announcement of Wonderbook, physical books that use augmented reality in tandem with the company’s PlayStation Move controller and PlayStation Eye camera to creative an interactive reading experience, bringing the book to life on the television screen.
The company announced a partnership with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to launch a title called Book of Spells for the Wonderbook platform — allowing readers to learn and cast spells using the Move controller as a virtual wand.
It’s one of a number of Wonderbooks in the works. No details yet on pricing or timing for the rollout.
Among other announcements, PlayStation executives said HTC will be the first non-Sony mobile phone maker to offer devices certified to work with PlayStation Mobile games on Android phones. (The company previously called this initiative PlayStation Suite, and Sony’s own mobile phone unit is, of course, already on board.)
It’s part of a broader trend in which Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are all pushing to extend their consoles beyond the television to mobile devices. Earlier today Microsoft announced a new initiative called SmartGlass that will make iPhones, Android devices, Windows PCs and Windows Phones companions for experiences on the Xbox 360 console.
For more, GameSpot has the archived video of the entire Sony presentation.
