Checked it twice, it's not an April fool (or they messed up the dates). The big ones, such as Engadget, Gizmodo, and Joystick considered it trustworthy. Nevertheless, no precise references can be found on the Net, and it seems that the original post is the only source for this.

Reportedly, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe filed a patent describing a PSP operated wireless toy-car. The idea would be to capture the car's environment with a mounted camera, and use the info in various PSP applications. As stated, the patent literally proposes that "a user may control the car [...] so as to spy on their friends [...] then upload the stored video images to a website" (privacy violation incitement?!). Other speculations include "racing within augmented reality zones". You get the point, the only limit is imagination.

Is this true? How come neither the US Patent and Trademark Office nor Google Patent Search don't know about this patent? Hopefully Sony really is working on something of the kind, but don't rush in, it looks at least very unofficial and arbitrary.

[ via Siliconera ]