Video: A Look At Pokémon GO as Played Using Augmented Reality Glasses

Virtual Insanity

by Thomas Whitehead Fri 2nd Dec 2016

The Pokémon GO craze during the Summer meant that you didn't have to go far before seeing the tell-tale signs of people playing it; anyone stood in an unlikely place looking at their phone was probably catching pocket monsters. The app is still rather popular, too, and tech companies continually use it as a platform to explore interesting ideas.

One such example has been featured by the BBC's 'Click' show; it visits a company in San Francisco that's working on augmented reality glasses, which aim to change how people use the technology. It coded Pokémon GO to run in via the headset, albeit with some rough edges, and the presenter gives it a try in an office and out in the real world.

The price and ongoing impracticalities of glasses / headsets like these can't be ignored, of course, but this idea of augmented reality wearables isn't going away just yet - despite the failure and abandonment of Google Glass, for example.

Is this gimmicky or a sign of the future in AR? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Tom has been involved in the games industry for over a decade, mostly writing about it or struggling to sell Indie games. Loves reading, writing, hunting Capcom’s fiercest monsters and watching baseball.

1
shosbu
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

I am way more into the idea of AR over VR. I hope Microsoft will be able to throw money at Hololens until it finally succeeds.

2
Nin10doh
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

@shosbu Yea AR is going to go a lot further than VR. I really hope they showcase capabilities more when the VR hype dies down....again...(always remember VR of the 90s).

3
samlikesninty
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

Honestly this would be pretty cool if they figured out a way to get rid of the actual border from the phone app (or at least make it look better), the flash effect when you catch a Pokemon being within that square.. yuck.

4
PlywoodStick
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

Augmented Reality on a mass scale is definitely the future, whether it be through handheld devices, eyewear, or cybernetic enhancements. Virtual Reality on a mass scale has many dystopian implications, so I hope it's just used as a situational tool in the future, rather than as a standard of interaction.

The current VR craze has a lot more funding behind it this time than the previous attempts over the past three decades, but I think it will succumb for the same reason as every previous attempt: it cuts you off from other people.

One of the commercials for Oculus Rift ironically highlights this perfectly: the camera pans through a number of different families, who each huddle around a single person in their group, who is doing something in the virtual environment... And everyone else just watches their reactions. They cannot participate. They are closed off.

Now imagine that scene, if everyone involved were sitting next to each other, their heads (or even brains) hooked up to their VR computers, interacting with each other in the linked virtual environment... But doing nothing with each other in reality. What kind of life is that?

5
ThanosReXXX
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

@shosbu If the topic interests you, maybe you will also like Magic Leap. That is quite a bit ahead of what HoloLens can offer. It's still in the making as we speak, but demos have been shown and are quite convincing.

Here's one of the coolest demos, and more in the list on the right of that page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM0T6hLH15k

6
crimsontadpoles
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

If lots of people start doing that, then I could see this happening:

7
ianl579
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

Gimme Metroid Prime VR, and I'll be set!

8
Ogbert
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

Haha! I like how he talks about how game being on glasses means he can always see where he's going, then it cuts to shot of map completely obscuring his vision.

It's a neat experiment but I don't care so much for AR. I turned it off in the app as it was actually more awkward.

9
DragonEleven
Fri 2nd Dec 2016

The AR they showed is actually fairly low level stuff compared to other technology that is in development, which Niantic have actually mentioned as being considered for compatibility in interviews before now... compared to that technology, the Pokémon GO demo they showed was god awful (it was more of a HUD than proper AR).

10
darth2d2
Sat 3rd Dec 2016

The Switch will probably have augmented reality capabilities. The PSP had it, but Invisimals didn't have the branding power that Pokemon has. As a consumer technology AR is a decade beyond VR. With Nvidia and Nintendo working together the Switch will probably be the most interactive platform on the market. The question is will it have the communication capabilities necessary to make someone put down their tablet or phone. If the new Nintendo family of devices is integrated with Facebook and Twitter I can see them stealing some of Apple's less dedicated users.

11
Sanangelo89
Sun 4th Dec 2016

AR is going to reach further then VR. VR reality cuts you of from the real world while AR fuses the real world with the digital world to a certain extend. For an example they might have a sattelite in the air that gives of signals and your AR glasses receive these signals. With that they could make it seem as if Pokemon really excist if future technology allows it. VR will never reach that, it cuts you off from the 'realworld'. For an example youre virtual reality might be different then that of another person, and otherwise they going to need a massive server to have a simultaneous experience for all players.