Tag: augmented reality games

Augmented reality passport unveiled by Blippar

| September 6, 2013

This new digital passport is designed to provide amusement for travelers as they kill time.

Blippar has just unveiled the latest augmented reality offering in its lineup, which is made up of a digital passport that is designed specifically for travelers who need to be kept amused throughout their long and otherwise boring journeys.

Specifically geared toward children, the hope is to keep stress levels down for parents on trips.

While traveling, many parents experience high stress and anxiety levels in attempting to keep their children entertained. The augmented reality passport from Blippar is meant to help to improve that situation and make family trips far more pleasant.

The augmented reality passport allows users to view “blips” that can keep them entertained.


When kids use the augmented reality app with their British passports, travelers will be able to watch a three dimensional plane appear to take off from the document. They can then tap the plane in order to navigate a number of different games that are inspired by vacation themes. Beyond games, it also features helpful tools such as checklists for packing.

The augmented reality passport also offers common phrase guides in French, Italian, Spanish, and Croatian, along with their phonetic pronunciations. This allows the experience to be not only fun and interesting for the traveling children, but also helpful and educational.

The Blippar CMO, Jess Butcher, explained that “With 14 million UK holidaymakers expected to go abroad this summer, we wanted to create something fun, informative and engaging that any person travelling abroad could use.” She also added that children are frequently bored when they need to sit around waiting in places such as airports, so the company wanted to come up with something that would allow families to focus on enjoying their vacations together, instead of being stressed and anxious because of rangy kids who aren’t being adequately simulated.

Only the front cover of any passport needs to be “blipped” in order to access the augmented reality features and provide travelers with an interactive travel experience that the children can enjoy. The app works for Android and iOS devices.

Augmented reality glasses may be in the future of Microsoft’s Xbox

| August 7, 2013

The company is tinkering with the idea of incorporating the wearable devices in its game console.

A patent application that was newly published by Mircrosoft has revealed that it appears to be tinkering with a head mounted display device for multiplayer games, and which has technology followers wondering if augmented reality may be in the future of the Xbox game console.

None of these speculations have been officially confirmed by the company, other than its patent application.

The patent application details look as though Microsoft is working on augmented reality glasses and a way to be able to match the players by way of these wearable devices. Provided in the description is a system and related methods for being able to invite a potential additional player to participate into a multiplayer game by way of a device with a head mounted display, to be worn by the user.

Augmented reality could be a central part of being able to form a full experience among several players in a virtual space.

Augmented Reality Glasses and XboxWithin one of the examples, a potential additional player invitation program would receive data by way of the user’s voice and determines that the this data is an invitation to be able to take part in the multiplayer game. From that point, eye tracking information is received by the program, in addition to facial recognition data, depth info, information related to the head mounted display device of the potential user and/or the voice data of the potential player.

The program makes a match of the potential player with the potential player account. From that point, the program receives a response of acceptance from that additional player so that he or she can have his or her potential player account with a multiplayer game participating user account.

What is central to the filing of the patent from Microsoft was the use of the potentially augmented reality based eye tracking, facial recognition, depth information and other sensor data use in order to make it possible for a number of different players to participate within the same virtual game arena.

For example, to make it possible for two players to fight using swords. Within the patent filing, it explains that “depth information comprises a measured depth of an interaction space in which the user and the potential player are located, and the potential player invitation program is further configured to use the depth information to select a suggested multiplayer game that is physically compatible with the measured depth of the interaction space; and suggest to the user the suggested multiplayer game.” This has suggested to many that augmented reality would be required to complete that experience.