Nintendo’s new game could be what AR technology has been waiting for to become commonplace.
The Pokémon company has teamed up with Nintendo and the company recently separated from Google, Niantic Labs, in order to develop a game called “Pokémon Go” which will feature the use of augmented reality and that could be what the tech has needed to make it mainstream.
The companies are working together to make it possible for smartphone users to enjoy the game over real life.
The idea is that players will be able to use the augmented reality game to look for, duel, and trade their Pokémon in “real” life. This means that it will be possible to play the game everywhere from city streets to country fields. So far, there haven’t been too many details that have been released about this mobile game, other than a broad concept. There also hasn’t been a specific date set for the release of the game, though it has been indicated that it will become available in 2016.
The idea is that this massive mobile gaming franchise will bring augmented reality into the big time.
This brand and nature of the mobile game will already have appeal to players even before all of the details have been released, as the popularity of Pokémon is tremendous, and AR tech based mobile apps have been growing in use as the idea of overlaying digital content on the real world becomes better recognized.
In order to be able to play the mobile game app, there will likely be a great deal of demand on the device. For instance, while the game will be taking place on the device screen and not in reality, it will require that certain GPS components be active, and a relatively good data service will need to be accessible in order to interact with the game. Moreover, it will require that the player looks at the screen the majority of the time, so it could provide somewhat of a similar experience, in terms of actual game-play, to the Ingress augmented reality app, a previous product released by Nantic when it was still with Google.
Tech startups that are investigating new technologies such as AR, or space as a whole, are enhancing ads.
According to a new report, tech startups that are branching into entirely new areas such as virtual and augmented reality, drones, and space, have been generating tremendous financing through investments since 2014 and are also contributing into far more creativity n the ad industry.
A recent report indicated that since last year, there have been $3.15 billion in 183 deals in these areas.
The report was on an analysis conducted by CB Insights and it was released on Friday. What it indicated was that the types of tech companies – including everything from augmented reality to satellites and space – are a considerable draw for investments and are revealing a notable shift in the way that imagers are created. This allows ads to be delivered in an entirely new way and style.
In this way, augmented reality and other tech are starting to have a spreading impact on many industries.
Since 2014, companies that are focused on AR and virtual reality have managed to raise $1 billion. This tech reached a peak of $623 million in all of last year. During the first quarter of this year, that figure dropped to $114 billion. However, brands have now started some serious experimentation. Discovery, for example, which is working with AR technology and with virtual reality, will bring about the very first videos meant specifically for this type of tech.
The main launch worth discussing in this area, at the moment, is Discovery VR, which will be the very first virtual reality network. This service is being designed to be able to test the boundaries and capabilities of this tech. The first videos debut Thursday and are posted on the DiscoveryVR.com website, as well as on Android and iPhone apps, and on YouTube.
Virtual and augmented reality startups that have a specific focus on commercial uses represented 40 percent of all of the funding that has been received in this category since 2012, said the report. Some of the largest brands in AR, Blippar and Augment, for example, are among the examples of the businesses within that sub-category that received some considerable funding within that time.
Since 2014, companies that are focused on 