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 popular Ingress location based game is opening itself up to Apple smartphone players.
Niantic Labs from Google has managed to produce an exceptionally popular augmented reality mobile gaming experience for Android smartphone users, but the next step is going to be a launch for users of iPhones, as well.
This will allow the Apple device users to enjoy the same experience that uses geolocation technology.
This augmented reality mobile gaming opportunity begins as a location based MMO, which uses positioning in the real world in order to impact the various events that are going on within the game. From there it expands into a type of broad scale virtual reality event that continues to grow the more the Ingress players continue to unravel its mysteries.
As a part of the celebration of this growing augmented reality mobile gaming experience, Niantic Labs has gone a step further.
Niantic Labs has now released a video series that is made up of two parts in the form of a retrospective. The purpose is to show the creation of the geolocation game experience and to document the way that the story has progressed until this point. The name of the official documentary that has been released is “Ingress Report: Ingress Year One.”
The videos are both interesting and informative, even to those who have never before played the Ingress game. It is a fascinating way to catch the viewer up with the latest in this experience which has become an event unto itself.
This will be certain to attract iPhone users who are looking forward to being able to take on the game for themselves once it is released in a format that is compatible with their own devices. Rumor has it that this will not be long off and that the release for this version.
That said, this remains big news in the augmented reality mobile gaming world, as Google had previously made the experience available only to users of devices based on its own Android operating system. However, the more players there are of the game, the better it gets. Therefore, this could lead to a considerable influx of players that could greatly improve this already highly enjoyed game.
