Category: Augmented Reality Technology

The new Fusion series will not only feature the highly popular Lego kits, but they will be in digital form.

When the fall arrives, this year, a completely new Lego kits series will have been released and it will use augmented reality to move the designs and constructions of a creator – young or not so young – out of the physical world and into the digital one.

This new series will be called Lego Fusion and it is already generating massive hype.

Simply said, the augmented reality Lego looks extremely cool! While the actual use of AR technology for a game is nothing new, particularly for children, mobile app developers are always coming up with new and unique ways to produce an interesting and attractive experience. Another example of a game that combines the real and digital worlds for a children’s toy experience is with Hot Wheels. They use a tablet to be able to enhance their racetracks with some spectacular visual effects to go along with the racing experience of the toy vehicles.

It isn’t just toy companies releasing augmented reality apps for a new entertainment experience.

For example, McDonald’s – the fast food chain – has previously launched their own AR game, alongside their new mascot (often labeled as creepy or even terrifying). However, when it comes to the game experience as a whole, it looks as though Lego has seriously stepped things up from its predecessors.

The Lego Fusion series will be making its way to stores in August and in September. It is iPad compatible and gives the user the ability to create a three dimensional building out of a single wall, and to allow players to be able to bring their characters and their environments to life in massive battle scenes on their living room floors.

So far, there are four games that have been confirmed as a part of the upcoming Lego Fusion series. They are Create and Race, Battle Towers, Town Master, and Resort Designer. Though there hasn’t been a great deal of detail provided regarding each specific game, the names do make it clear what their themes will be.

These augmented reality games will rely on special cards for positioning the camera, and then the user can simply begin building and playing.

It has been reported from a number of technology news sources that Project Fortaleza is on hold.

Although the rumors have been flying about a pair of augmented reality glasses that were expected to be released at some point in the not-too-distant future, by Microsoft, reports are suddenly being released that suggest that the wait is going to be considerably longer than expected because the project, as a whole, has been put on hold.

Expectations for AR wearable technology have been high since a Microsoft patent was leaked last year.

The augmented reality device had been in the works as a peripheral for Xbox One. The codename for this product was called “Project Fortaleza”. That said, since that first leak, there hasn’t been a great deal of information that has come available from the company. Moreover, Microsoft, itself, has never confirmed or denied that the wearable technology exists, at all. Now, it looks as though the Project Fortaleza work has been “temporarily cancelled”. The original report was made on WPDang, a Chinese website.

This suggests that the augmented reality project is simply on hold and not actually stopped altogether.

According to the source, the reason that the AR glasses are being placed on the back burner has nothing to do with the actually implementing the technology. The development of the device didn’t seem to be coming with any hitches, at all. However, a considerable number of the tech patents that are involved in the process of making this device do not actually belong to Microsoft. Therefore, the company would be required to license those patents – an action that is now keeping Fortaleza from becoming available to Xbox One owners.

Some of the patents have already been licensed for the Kinect sensor’s second generation, but those licenses are specifically meant for that one device and cannot be carried over to be used for anything else.

Until those issues are sorted out, it is clear that the primary push being made by Microsoft will not be in augmented reality. This could end up presenting the company with some challenges as it looks as though Sony and its Oculus are hoping to be the next breakthrough in VR gaming.