A new interactive platform from Sony offers a new way to play card games.
Called Project Field, the gaming platform uses Bluetooth and NFC-like wireless technology to connect card games and mobile games, Sony announced last week. The smart pad is equipped with a chip reader and sensors and can be played with a mobile device such as a smartphone or a tablet.
When gamers move their cards on the pad, these movements interact with the in-game actions. The cards are both readable and writeable, which means that in-game status changes can be saved. Depending on the game, players will also be able to “grow” a character, with stats stored on the card, says Engadget reports.
According to Tech Times, while similar technology is used by IC-based card pads for playing Japanese arcade games, the integration with a smartphone or a tablet is a new feature.
“We believe this is a brand new platform that will allow for a playing style that has not existed up until now,” said Sony’s Kazuyuki Sakamoto, according to Bloomberg. “To sum up the concept in a few words, we want to add a digital spice to the experience of touching an analog thing.”
Project Field was developed by Sony’s game studio ForwardWorks, which was established in March this year to create mobile games based on PlayStation franchises.
The first Project Field title will be Yokai Watch, a role-playing game. Initially, the platform is only set to be available in Japan and there is no word on an international release.
