Sony Now Trying the “Unconventional” with PS3 While Nintendo Sales Soar 90%

In the latest news from the console wars, Nintendo released sales and profits. Sales soared 90%, fueled by the success of the Wii. Nintendo has now sold 5.84 million of the consoles worldwide. Meanwhile, Sony announced a partnership with Hasbro to combine the worlds of trading cards and videogames using a new Sony video camera designed specifically for the PlayStation 3 console. The camera can recognize trading cards as you place them on a tabletop mat (see picture).

So Hasbro is designing a set of trading cards that will come packaged with a PS3 game called “Eye of Judgment.” It’s being called “an unconventional method” of bringing fantasy creatures to life through gaming. So here’s how it works:

The new Sony camera called the “PlayStation Eye” will recognize your cards as you play them on the mat. Each card has a creature that possesses certain powers. When you fight other creatures by placing your cards on the mat, it shows up as an animation onscreen. The idea is that gamers can battle each other online while still using their trading cards. Phil Jackson, group executive of Hasbro Games, claims, “Toys and games are becoming one.”

Hasbro estimates that worldwide trading-card game sales are $1 billion annually. So can some of that market help boost PlayStation 3 sales? Sony sure hopes so. Either way, the irony of Wii success news coming out the same day as the PS3 doing something unconventional… priceless! It’s especially ironic considering Sony called the Wii a novelty back in December.

For some more technical details on the PlayStation Eye, check out Gizmodo.