Sony announced a new handheld gaming system this week that it claims will revolutionize the portable entertainment experience.

The new PlayStation Vita was unveiled as part of Sony’s presentation on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

The Vita marks Sony’s biggest advance in the handheld gaming space since it introduced the Sony PSP in 2006. The Vita doesn’t feature 3D gaming, like rival Nintendo’s 3DS, but the dual cameras will be used in another emerging video-game space — augmented reality.

PlayStation Vita vs. Sony PSP chatter

The unreleased PlayStation Vita is already generating more buzz than the established Sony PSP.

PlayStation sentiment

Sentiment around PlayStation is at its most positive point of the month. Conversations around PlayStation are currently 85% positive, after dipping to 35% positive during the hacker PlayStation Network fiasco.

Now that the PlayStation Network is back in action and the Vita is generating positive buzz, has Sony regained the consumer confidence?

It’s been at center stage in recent tech news, with companies strategizing to develop the ultimate mixed reality application. Popular review website Yelp as well as long time mobile phone manufacturers Nokia have hopped on the augemented reality wagon, bringing major hype to this technology and stirring up some conversations in social media.

The question stands: How do we feel about these star-trek-like nodes of information overlays? Social Radar tells us this:

Since the beginning of July, a whopping 87% of posts, comments, and chatter around augmented reality has been positive. Notice that only a mere 2% of people are conflicted in their opinions. So can we assume that this will be the wave of the near future?

Perhaps. Looking at the sentiment trend graph, positive volume has been on a steady incline overall. Note that the hump in negativity that came mid September was brought on due to an announcement of an AR release by Nokia, that did not bode so well amongst consumers. Next we’ll take a look at actual feelings and overall concerns.

It’s confirmed. Augmented reality is COOL. So whats the “problem”? Apparently there are a few concerns, including integration of other phone features and overall functionality. People are scared that these apps will not improve their daily lives and instead complicate the sole purpose of the device in question. I guess you can say that there is a lot of doubt.

Want to get in on some AR discussions? Here are the hot beds.

Here’s an idea; an augmented reality app that pulls up social media analytics when a product, business, or person is over-layed. Haha!