Through Augmented Reality, Video Games Are Merging with Solid Toys
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Toymakers are turning to augmented reality to spice up their products, and in the process they are blurring the line between toy and video game.
CREDIT: Parrot SA |
Toymakers are turning to augmented reality to spice up their products, and in the process they are blurring the line between toy and video game.
Mattel's Avatar action figures, each equipped with a barcode-like i-Tag that can be scanned by a small camera to open up a virtual world, were among the first mainstream toys to come out with augmented reality, or AR. Now a fleet of toys is following this lead. For example, the Parrot AR Drone lets players use their iPhones to control a self-hovering robot and "shoot" virtual targets.
I see augmented reality ... as a fantastic way of giving life to unanimated toys, pushing the boundaries of the limited physical object to something alive and evolving with endless possibilities, said Frantz Lasorne, a design consultant at Lego System and co-owner of Visionaries 777, an interaction design agency located in Hong Kong. It is also a very nice way to bridge these two separated worlds toys and video games by filling the gap and blending them together in the same experience.
Someday trading cards, books, and board games will be accessorized with AR bringing a new experience to play.
Toys get makeover
Augmented reality the use of digital information superimposed on real objects, images, or video to create a virtual world out of the real one had previously been relegated to high-tech video games and gadgets. Now, with the technologies used to create AR (3-D scanning, AR glasses and projectors) becoming less expensive and more accessible, toys are being augmented by these digital accents.
In the type of AR seen in toys today, an object can be scanned by a camera, which then puts that object's image on a computer screen mixing the real world with the digital.
In the future, however, such toys will come with more interactive features, Lasorne told InnovationNewsDaily. Kids will be able to talk to their toys, and toys will talk with one another both locally and remotely, which can create a sort of network between kids' rooms.
At this rate, within the next decade, there will no longer be a distinction between toys and video games , Lasorne said.
Lasorne developed an AR game called Scope a board game involving toy figures that is enhanced by video. Each player wears special glasses that overlay 3-D images on the physical board. Players can equip their toy characters with different capacities, including good health, shields, camouflage and weapons.
In this game, augmented reality is used to display virtual objects and animations, effects, sounds around your physical toy and surrounding environment, Lasorne said.
Fully engaging with toys
Three processes are needed to unlock AR. A computer or other device must be able to recognize the target object (the i-Tag on Mattel's action figures, for example, takes care of this), track the object, and render 3-D images on the object.
In today's AR-enhanced toys, a camera recognizes some piece of the toy. But in the future, users will be able to interact using their bodies, faces and hands, said Bruno Uzzan, chief executive of Total Immersion, an AR software provider that worked with Mattel to develop the Avatar action figures.
For example, Microsoft's Kinect lets the user interact with AR using body movements in order to control motion on the screen (such as hitting a tennis ball or dunking a basketball). In this sense, your full body or your face or your hand could also be a way to interact with augmented reality in real-time, Uzzan told InnovationNewsDaily. That's the way I see full interaction between the consumer and the toy being deployed shortly.
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