PlayStation Vita now has an AR experience called “Open Me!”
PlaysStation Vita has now joined the consoles that are offering augmented reality games to their players, allowing the device camera to make it appear as though virtual elements are functioning within the real world.
This use of AR technology has already proven to be successful in the launch of the Nintendo 3DS.
Now, Open Me! is an augmented reality game that is available on PlayStation Vita and is being seen as one of the best attempts to show that using AR tech can give consumers and gamers a “good time.” This experience involves a number of different locked box puzzles, each of which has been rendered in 3D.
This augmented reality game uses an AR marker card to establish the position of the box in front of the player.
Using the marker card lets the player use the Vita mobile device to be able to examine the puzzle box from any angle he or she would like. The purpose is to be able to identify the switch, button, or combination of those two things, which will allow the box to open. The earliest puzzles are the simplest, to allow the user to become used to the concept.
Once the basics have been learned, the designs of the puzzle boxes become increasingly complex. Among the options are certain examples that force the player to “think outside the box”, such as a cuckoo clock that requires the user to catch onto the fact that he or she must set the time on the clock to match that in the real world in order to open it correctly.
That said, there are also some puzzles that aren’t quite taking full advantage of what an augmented reality game has to offer, in that the controls of the game are not quite up to the precision level that is required in order to be able to complete the puzzle. Beyond that, there are certain boxes that need two Vita players to work together on a shared puzzle to be able to open them up – which is great as long as the user knows someone else with the same device and skill level.
The marketing effort is a part of a partnership between the restaurant and Xbox One.
The massive international restaurant chain, Pizza Hut, has partnered with Xbox One to provide customers with exclusive content in the form of augmented reality ads that play on a smartphone or tablet that is aimed at one of the specially made interactive delivery boxes.
This campaign has been launched in the United Kingdom and is available on specially marked boxes.
These augmented reality ads are for the Forza Motorsport 5 game that was recently released. The AR content can be viewed using the free Blippar app and allows people who order the pizzas to be able to view this unique video and its associated features. This is not the first time that the pizza chain has taken part in this type of advertising.
The current augmented reality ads are being compared to some from the past, such as the one for Halo 4.
That partnership with Microsoft aligned with the release of that high profile game and generated a considerable amount of attention. In that promotion, there were 500,000 limited edition boxes that featured the specially printed cover with the image of the game that would come to life when viewed through a smartphone or tablet. Customers animated the image through the use of the Blippar app and were able to interact with it in order to be able to enter into a sweepstakes as well as to view trailers for the game.
Blippar has taken part in a broad range of different AR mobile marketing campaigns with large brands, such as Pepsi and even one of the main competitors of Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza. This is the first time that they have worked on a campaign for augmented reality ads for Pizza Hut UK. The restaurant has also worked AR into other efforts to engage with customers, only in its Middle East operations, where it experienced very positive outcomes. This technology aligns well with advertising for a broad range of brands and their products and services, giving the surfaces of the delivery boxes an entirely new purpose.