This is really cool, but im not sure - how is it supposed to be used in games? Reality cant possibly be a better playground than specifically tailored VR.
I always saw AR as a convenient way to provide additional data on surroundings. Point out landmarks using a HUD in a car. A nice way to present information on a product (like an artificial "the company making this product supports SOPA" sticker :) ).
But I am really at a loss as to how this would be used in games. Virtual Pets maybe? but whats the fun of having to look at it through a 4 inch screen ? Hell, even his dancing foxes (or whatever they are) dont fit in tht ipad screen. The user sees the space right next to the ipad window, where they should be. And there's nothing there. Thats a huge immersion killer to me. Its not the same as with VR, as VR doesnt have to pretend the illusion is actually right behind the screen window. AR with full goggles ought to make up for that - but the hardware isnt nearly there yet.
This is technologically very impressive - but what can we really make of it?
I dunno. I forsee a pokemon game with creatures you have to look for to find, that can be accurately hiding behind/near/in things at various times of the day.
I can imagine several possibilities. Maybe something multiplayer using real terrain, like a scavenger hunt--you could mark objects and leave clues with this sort of tool. In fact, any sort of game that involves actually moving around could benefit from this, and I think games like that could be very interesting.
Another thought is board/card games (like Magic: The Gathering) could benefit from this. You could get nice little animation when you play your cards--not terribly useful, but could be very amusing. You could also have wizard chess like Harry Potter (sort of).
Really, the big trick is being able to integrate with the outside world. So this won't be great for entirely virtual games, but could be used as a "hook" into physical games.
I always saw AR as a convenient way to provide additional data on surroundings. Point out landmarks using a HUD in a car. A nice way to present information on a product (like an artificial "the company making this product supports SOPA" sticker :) ).
But I am really at a loss as to how this would be used in games. Virtual Pets maybe? but whats the fun of having to look at it through a 4 inch screen ? Hell, even his dancing foxes (or whatever they are) dont fit in tht ipad screen. The user sees the space right next to the ipad window, where they should be. And there's nothing there. Thats a huge immersion killer to me. Its not the same as with VR, as VR doesnt have to pretend the illusion is actually right behind the screen window. AR with full goggles ought to make up for that - but the hardware isnt nearly there yet.
This is technologically very impressive - but what can we really make of it?