While augmented reality made more of a cameo appearance during Samsung's official grand unveiling of the Galaxy S10 line-up on Wednesday, it's the company's move into 5G connectivity that has huge implications for AR.
This time last year, we got our first taste of what mobile app developers could do in augmented reality with Apple's ARKit. Most people had never heard of Animojis. Google's AR platform was still Tango. Snapchat introduced its World Lens AR experiences. Most mobile AR experiences existing in the wild were marker-based offerings from the likes of Blippar and Zappar or generic Pokémon GO knock-offs.
At present, consumer-facing augmented reality is a mobile world, and Snapchat is making money on it through advertising partnerships.
If you have a substantial collection of POGs, the disc-collecting game from the 1990s, squirreled away in your basement, then a new augmented reality app may give you a reason to dig them up.
As manufacturers try to differentiate their smartphones from the sea of Android devices, a new genre of smartphone has emerged: gaming phones. Razer Phone was the first to gain traction, but the likes of Xiaomi, Asus, and ZTE have all announced gaming-first phones coming soon. Still, you don't really need to buy a "gaming phone" to play games like a pro on your smartphone.
One of the most successful rock bands still making music has just made augmented reality an integral part of its upcoming tour. Irish rock band U2 has announced a new mobile app experience that allows you to preview the group's live performance in your own home in AR.
HBO's Westworld has touched down on iOS as a mobile game, giving players the chance to manage their very own futuristic theme park set in the wild west. Unfortunately, the game is currently only available in select countries as a soft launch until its fully developed. But if you'd like to try out this game right now, there's a simple workaround to get Westworld on your iPhone.
Soon, Pokémon GO allies attacking a raid boss at a gym will be able to do so together in augmented reality.
Trivia games are among the most entertaining ways to learn factoids and interesting info you may have never known about before. They're also the perfect genre to enjoy with friends and family, as they're particularly great at breaking the ice to make for a more memorable time together.
When a firm like Techstars believes that augmented reality is an attractive industry to invest in, there's a high probability that it's right.
Developers looking to create shared experiences that support both HoloLens as well as ARKit may be able to get it working in Unity since that the engine supports both platforms — though, the amount of effort it might take to get that working could be a bit much. Up to this point, Unity has been the only real approach to attempt this combination — at least, until now.
"Valar morghulis." Don't know what that means? You should probably download Duolingo for Android or iPhone.
Tony Parisi, the global head of VR/AR at Unity Technologies, has been passionately working with virtual and immersive spaces for a long time. And while the internet world we live in now is very different than when Parisi was co-authoring VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) — an early attempt at creating 3D environments that would work in a web browser — some of the questions that were assumed answered are being asked again.
You may have heard of Honor of Kings, the multiplayer online battle arena game so popular that it has the potential to do for mobile what League of Legends has done for the PC in the world of competitive online gaming, but you'll soon hear about its western iteration, Strike of Kings. Tencent, the China-based online gaming giant now looks to expand to the lucrative western market and has released the game to many parts of Europe as a soft launch for iOS devices. Gameplay in Strike of Kings is...
Fans of Titanfall now have a great alternative to play on their iPhones whenever they're out and about. Titanfall: Assault has arrived as a soft launch for iOS devices. A hybrid between card-based and real-time strategy genres, the game will pit you against other players with some mech-on-mech action to dominate the battlefield. Taking some cues from Clash Royale, each unit that's deployed in Titanfall: Assault will automatically fight its way through opposing forces to accomplish its objecti...
Once upon a time, Flash games reigned as some of the best entertainment the internet had to offer. But then came the smartphone, which quickly overtook this genre with similar games that you could play no matter where you were. If you yearn for the good old days, though, you'll be happy to know that you can still use the Puffin browser to safely play old favorites and discover new gems.
Fans of rhythm tap games and traditional one-on-one fighters finally have something to bring them closer together. DuelBeats, a fighting game that lets you perform moves by tapping to the beat of a song, has been released as a soft launch for both iOS and Android in New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. Just because the game is exclusive to those regions doesn't mean we can't try it out for ourselves, and with a little hackery, it's entirely possible to do so.
Tom Clancy games, like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon: Wildlands, are famous for their realistic and immersive gameplay that focuses on covert, low-intensity warfare. Ubisoft now appears to be testing the overcrowded waters of mobile gaming with the release of ShadowBreak, and has soft released the game for both iOS and Android in Canada for further development, which means that with a little tinkering, you can play ShadowBreak in any country.
NextReality will be giving readers a rundown of the augmented and mixed reality news briefs from the preceding week that we didn't cover already. This way, you'll never miss anything of importance in the NextReality landscape, and will always know what's going on with new augmented and mixed reality tech and applications. The first one starts right now, and you can enjoy future ones every Tuesday going forward, so stay tuned.
The Autobots and Decepticons are back as Transformers: Forged to Fight has soft-launched for both iOS and Android. Help Optimus Prime fight corrupted Transformers one on one to save them from their ruthless overlords, and have them join your cause, regardless of which side they're on. Collect, control, and level up unique robots from the entire Transformers universe, including the classic TV animated series, movies, comics, and toys.
Great news, zombie killers! Zombie Gunship's long overdue sequel, Zombie Gunship Survival, has finally arrived for iOS and Android devices as a soft launch available for download in the Philippines—which means that with a little tinkering, you can play the new game in any country.
Dynasty Warriors has finally been unleashed on the world of mobile gaming. The latest installment in the popular series is called Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed, and it sends you rampaging through armies using a variety of devastating attacks, all while collecting and upgrading over 80 unique characters from the Dynasty Warriors series. Each offer their own unique abilities, which lets you create the ideal team to take on the seemingly endless hordes coming your way with cold, cruel efficiency.
The largest and arguably most widely known event of its type, especially in the US, the Sundance Film Festival is an annual celebration of independent film—ones made outside the Hollywood system. This year, a new type of experience appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in an installation called "The Journey to the Center of the Natural Machine." This mixed reality presentation offered the user the newest type of storytelling in a long and important line—continuation of the species kind of im...
Whether you're riding the subway on your way home from work, or stuck in the backseat of the car on a long road trip, there are times when you need to entertain yourself without a mobile data connection. A good mobile game would pass the time perfectly, but not every game works without an internet connection.
Pokémon GO has had an incredible impact on gamers in a way we've never seen before, but you can only do so much in augmented reality on a smartphone. It's clear we're headed for more immersive experiences, but the Amsterdam-based development studio Capitola VR already created a proof-of-concept version of the game that works on the Microsoft HoloLens.
Pokémon GO made waves as the first augmented reality game to gain popular adoption. In fact, it was so popular that it only took a few days to uncover some the benefits and serious issues with combining physical and digital worlds.
Google I/O is right around the corner, and everyone's expecting new virtual and augmented reality news. Here's what to expect from this week's announcements.
An accelerometer/gyro goes onto an Arduino board and transmits the angular motion of the skateboard via Bluetooth to a virtual reality game I made for Android phones and Google Cardboard.
There is no shortage of games for your iPhone, and I'm sure you and your friends are probably sick to death of playing Candy Crush Saga by now. To spice things up, instead of waiting for cool new addicting games to come out, take control and make your own, then share them with your friends.
Starting today, you can experience all the unique feature of Samsung's next flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S5, right on your Galaxy S3 or other Android device.
I can imagine you sitting there thinking to yourself, "I've played a lot of games! I bet he won't have any that I don't know about!" Well, that's entirely possible. I'm only drawing from my own personal experience here, so you may, in fact, know of all these games.
Want to incorporate more veggies into your daily eating but don't want to feel like you're force feeding yourself stuff that tastes like cardboard? Break out of your bland vegetable rut and experience vegetables the way they were supposed to be experienced - succulent, juicy, and delicious - with this recipe.
This video game is available on both the Xbox 360 (XBLA) and PlayStation 3 (PSN). But this walkthrough for Castle Crashers focuses on the Xbox Live Arcade version. This series is played with two or more players at all times. Check out all the videos for the full gameplay!
LEGO and Harry Potter unite in this extensive video game called LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4. Each year corresponds to the years in J. K. Rowling's wizardry series, so this is like four games in one! This 80-part series will take you through the complete gameplay of LEGO Harry Potter for the Xbox 360, but it's also available for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PSP and Windows. For more information on this walkthrough, visit Mahalo.
You would think that a video game involving teddy bears would be for young children, right? That is not the case with Naughty Bear. This video game isn't like those cute and cuddly Care Bears we all know about. It's about revenge. It's about "naughtiness". It's about teddy bears killing teary bears.
The Nokia N900 smartphone suffers from a lack of quality games due to Nokia's restrictive OS, but fortunately you can get WebOS games from the Palm Pre loaded onto it pretty easily by following the steps outlined in this video tutorial.
If you've already made a game using Unity3D and want to wrap it up with a nice GUI (or graphical user interface) (or menus) watch this video for a guide to making basic GUI elements using the built in ones in Unity3D.
Learn to play Kick Pool and add variety to your billiards game. Although difficult to play, this is a great skillbuilder game if you're trying to improve your kick shots. Kick pool, which is set up by racking the set like 9-ball, is a scoring game, and games are won by scoring five points. All shots taken must be kick shots, or a shots where the cue ball hits the rail first before making contact with another ball. Learn about the rules to Kick Pool, as well as how it improves your overall poo...
Windows Phone 7 is just beyond the horizon, and is poised to be the finest mobile phone for gaming yet released. If you want to get a head start on making your own games for the Windows phone, watch this video for a walkthrough of making a shuffleboard game in Silverlight that will work on Windows Phone 7.
There are millions of YouTube videos out there about video games. Playthroughs, reviews, commentaries, tutorials. If you want people to see and appreciate your gameplay and takes on it, watch this series of videos. It features a veteran video-game-YouTuber explaining in great detail how he sets up, shoots, and edits his YouTube videos. It covers cameras, lighting, and many other aspects of filming yourself playing a game.
