The holy shit moment of the Nintendo 3DS is its Augmented Reality capability. By using cards (or tattoos), the 3DS can project augmented reality. Sony is working on its own AR tech. It's truly impressive.
Called SmartAR, Sony's augmented reality tech doesn't require special markers or 2D. Thus, an object can be captured by a camera and then tracked at high-speed and displayed in space.
According to Sony, the company's been researching AR since 1994 and plans to implement the tech in a variety of applications, including advertising (ungh) and games (yay).
At this year's GDC, Sony's NGP presentation mentioned "natural marker technology", and Sony's already showed off an AR demo with a dinosaur. This SmartAR tech might be what's powering it.
Put it in your upcoming portable the NGP, Sony. Do it.
This Augmented Reality Needs No Markers to Interfere With Your (Virtual) World [Gizmodo]