Sony has been in the video game industry for many years now. Even though Sony games and gaming consoles are well known amongst the teen and adult population, Sony rarely ventures into the children’s market. That’s all about to change with the creating of the new Sony Wonderbook, which is, incidentally, targeted directly at children. The Wonderbook is a cross between an e-reader and a tablet, but it also has plenty of Sony’s gaming know-how thrown into the mix.

The Wonderbook is meant to combine 3D action with popular children’s characters. Sony has recently demonstrated the capabilities of the Wonderbook and the company has also mentioned that it has one very popular children’s book author on board – pay attention parents, this is the one toy your kids will want when the holiday season rolls around!

J.K. Rowling: Need I Say More?

Sony has managed to team up with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling in regards to the first Wonderbook – rather, the book that comes with the first Wonderbook. Here’s how the Wonderbook will work (seemingly): kids will be able to turn the pages of an actual book (the first one will be called “The Book of Spells”), and animations will come to life on the Wonderbook screen. So far, Sony has announced that the animations will include a “fire” that shows up in 3D form outside of the Wonderbook (kids will have to put out the fire), dragons that fly around in the air (thanks to 3D animation), and all kinds of other spells and tricks that kids will have to face and fix.

Not only will kids be able to use the Wonderbook screen to control characters (little short of a tablet with a very large and wide screen), the Wonderbook is also compatible with the PlayStation Move wand. If you happen to have this wand already, you are already a portion of the way to having the hottest Christmas toy. If not, you will have to purchase the Wonderbook (I’m assuming that the Book of Spells will come with this tablet?) and, possibly, the Move wand.

Pricing Details

Speaking of purchases, Sony hasn’t stated yet how much the Wonderbook will cost, but the new kid tablet will be available during the holiday season. If the release of this tablet is any indication, you can expect the Wonderbook to be competitively priced just in time for that holiday shopping spree. If you want to find out more about the Wonderbook or see Sony’s (somewhat confusing) presentation, you can visit the Sony website for additional details.

Kids and spells aside, creating a tablet that’s targeted towards kids is something of a great move for Sony. Since the company hasn’t had record sales this past quarter, Sony must come up with some way of appeasing to a new market, and it certainly looks like that new market will be kids (or parents wishing to appease kids). Either way, the new Sony Wonderbook will be something to keep your eye on as those long and crisp fall days start to roll around.