Augmented Planet » games

Traveller AR First Look

lester — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:30:44 +0000

Ask anyone who grew up in the 80s what their all time favourite computer games is and there is good chance they’ll reply with Elite. They simply don’t make games the same any more. Back in the 80s it was all about the game play, and boy did Elite have it in abundance.

Over the years there have been many attempts at producing the next Elite clone, all of which have failed to live up to the original. Even when the original creators tried to recreate their success with the truly dreadful Elite 2 and Elite 3 they failed to be anywhere near as successful.

You may be wondering why I mention Traveller AR and Elite in the same breath. When you load the Traveller AR game its clear to see where the inspiration has come from. The game is very Elite like, you start with a basic ship, travel between the numerous space stations located in the galaxy while trading cargo in an attempt to build up your money and to equip your ship. Along the way you’ll meet with alien races and humans alike that want to relive you of your precious cargo forcing you to engage in combat.

Traveller AR picks up some of the best bits from Elite and the other wannabe clones. For example, when you dock you are able to access a message board where you can sign up for special missions that earn you money or equipment. Additionally, the game is a MMORPG that supports thousands of users so you have that social aspect of encountering real people as you play. You can send them messages too via the in game chat system.

It is difficult not to compare the game with Elite as there are so many similarities, but rather than dwell on those and as this is an AR blog we should focus on the augmented realityness of the game. The games use of AR in my limited playing time has been of the superficial kind, eg. It turns on your devices camera window so the action takes place around you rather than on a space backdrop. I’m never really a fan of this as playing with your living room as the backdrop provides no value to the gaming experience in my opinion. However, the games designers do claim that the AR feature utilizes your GPS position and providers you with bonuses based on your playing location. While I haven’t seen that in action yet, presumably it’s open to scenarios where visiting your local Starbucks earns you special rewards. They also say that you’ll be able to use the AR functionality to discover and interact with nearby players.

Traveller AR is currently billed as being a beta release which means it is still undergoing development and ironing out some of the bugs. As such the price is currently £0.69/$0.99, but that will increase once the game is out of beta.

Without doubt Traveller AR is an ambitious project and I am expecting great things, if you like space trading games, or want to remember those good old Elite days then this could be the game you are waiting for so get it now while is on special offer.

Traveller AR is currently available for iOS devices and can be Installed from here: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/traveller-ar/id463521846?mt=8

PlayStation Vita Augmented Reality Teaser

lester — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:55:57 +0000

If you are wondering what to do with those envelopes stuffed with cash you’ll receive from aunties and uncles over the Christmas holiday then wonder no more. Our advice is to put the cash away into an even bigger envelope and start saving for a Sony PlayStation Vita, the augmented reality games they are showcasing look amazing.

Technically there is no reason why iOS or Android can do this, but Sony have done a great job in whetting the appetite for more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=45MY-U09KQE

AR Defender The Benchmark in AR Gaming

lester — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:56:21 +0000

Recently there have been a number of great augmented reality games hit the market that extend the genre beyond just turning on the devices camera for the sake of being called ‘augmented reality’. One of the games that set’s the benchmark in what augmented reality gaming should be is AR Defender from French company int13.

AR Defender is a marker based game with the simple concept of defending your tower from invaders. In the latest release this puts you up against hordes of Halloween style invaders intent on overrunning your tower. Fortunately you have at your disposal a range of weapons to keep the hordes at bay, but you’ll need to use your weapons wisely to reach the end of the level. Enemy hordes will come at you from all angles and you’ll need to take them out before they get close enough to do any damage.

Being an augmented reality game you are able to move around your tower and view the action from any angle. Unlike other games you never feel that augmented reality has been used for the sake of it, here it adds real value as the ability to quickly move around your surroundings is essential to the game-play.

int13 have done a great job in creating this classic shooter. It’s great fun and should be considered an essential game for any gamer.

AR Defender

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k56ZtfZYG7E

AR Defender is available as a universal iOS app for £0.69/$0.99, the Samsung Wave II (bada) for free, and is slated for a November 2011 Android release.

Get it here:

iOS
bada
Android (coming soon)

RC vCar The Next Best Thing To Owning A Car

lester — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:05:57 +0000

If the sky-high cost of fuel has put you off owning a car, the next best thing is owning a virtual car. RC vCar from Pop Culture Software is an entertainment based application that displays a virtual car in the camera window of your iPhone. Using the virtual joystick on your iOS device you are able to control the cars movement, lights and horn.

The app comes in two flavours. A free lite version which includes 1 car and no gaming aspect. Here you get to drive the car around any flat surface much like you would any RC car. The full version which retails for £0.69 ($0.99) includes 8 cars, each of which can be customized and a gaming aspect which involves avoiding obstacles and collecting virtual coins.

vCars

Formula 1
Nascar
Go-cart
Baja Ram pickup
Audi racer
Pink convertible
Police car (with working light bar)
School bus (with working stop lights)

As the game doesn’t require a marker it can be played anywhere and on any surface. The augmented realityness of the game reminds me of early AR shooters such as AR Invaders. The gameplay takes place in the camera window but there is no interaction with real objects so it’s possible to drive off a table or through objects. Still for the meagre asking price it a bit of AR car based fun.

Try the lite version here or jump straight into the full version here.

RC vCar In Action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIOcfaM42mA

AR Drone Hits Android

lester — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:42:50 +0000

There is no doubt about it, the AR Drone looks like a seriously fun piece of kit. Unfortunately however its been an iPhone/iPad exclusive since launch, until now that is. Android owners dust off your wallet and breakout the credit card because the AR Drone is now available for you too!

The AR Drone in case you haven’t seen it is an indoor/outdoor remote controlled helicopter, or if you want to get technical, a quadricopter. Unlike a helicopter it has 4 rotors that provide the lift and steering, the additional rotors also make it much easier to control and with less of that unpredictable wobble factor. But what makes the AR Drone so much fun is it that it is fitted with not 1 but 2 cameras. The first camera provides a forward facing view while the second points down to show what’s directly below, perfect for those aerial snapshots or incursions into the neighbours garden.

To control the drone you’ll need a smartphone, either something running iOS or Android. Once connected via WiFi the phone will act as the controller providing you with the steering as well as the live camera feed from the drone. While that’s awesome enough, there are around 10 AR Drone applications available in the Android Marketplace. The current batch of apps include stats about your flight (eg height, distance, speed), create automatic fight paths for your drone to follow, or race your drone against friends.

iOS has slightly more applications available including a true augmented reality game where you race around one of five virtual circuits. I’m sure its only a matter of time before it hits the Android.

The only downside to the AR Drone is the cost. It will set you back around £240 which is by no means cheap. But it is fair to say that this is not a toy, its a serious piece of flying kit that also enables a realistic game experience. I’ll get my hands on one and give you the full review soon.

AR Drone

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8YeE9fUT7w

Ball Invasion – AR Gaming Using SLAM Technology

lester — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:37:27 +0000

The trouble with mobile augmented reality games that use the camera feed for the background is the camera usage is entirely superficial. If you’re fighting aliens, watching them appear from the TV or in front of the cat doesn’t really add any value to the game. Until now that is. 13^th Lab from Stockholm, Sweden are the first company to release an augmented reality game that uses the NASA created SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology used by robotic explorers.

What is SLAM technology and what does it add to the gaming experience? SLAM lets you very accurately position a mobile device (in this case the iPad 2) in a 3D space and overlay computer data without the need for any printed visual markers. In other words, if you are playing an augmented reality game the application is aware of its surroundings enabling advanced game play such as enemy’s taking cover behind objects (your sofa) or bullets bouncing off walls.

To demo the concept, 13^th Lab have released an iPad 2 game titled Ball Invasion. The game is an additive shooter with the simple concept of shooting the balls but it demonstrates the awareness of your surroundings as bullets will bounce off objects in the real world.

The game is iPad 2 only as its requires the additional CPU power. Currently the game is on 50% discount ($1.99) so grab it from here if you are looking for an app to show off your iPad.

Ball Invasion

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHGtvdxTVZk

If you want to develop your own apps and try out SLAM/AR for yourself you can register for the SDK at: http://13thlab.com/developer/ It will certainly be interesting to see what developers build using this technology in the future.

AR Games You Need To Try

lester — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:46:42 +0000

It seems like only yesterday that augmented reality gaming consisted of games that simply enable the phones camera to provide an interesting backdrop. Thanks to tools from companies like String and Qualcomm (and of course the OS’s providing access to the camera feed) developers are now able to build vision based games that use natural feature tracking to create interesting 3D experiences.
Qualcomm released their Android SDK some months back with a developer challenge, as a result they have a number of games that look pretty interesting. Before we get to the games its worth noting that the Qualcomm AR SDK has recently become available for iOS developers. The SDK plugs into Unity, one of most popular tools for games developers. If you are interesting in building your own AR content take a look at the tools here: http://developer.qualcomm.com/dev/augmented-reality

The games listed below are for Android unless stated

BiljetAR
BijetAR is an interesting concept developed by Beyond Reality based in The Netherlands. The game uses a bank note to create the game board so there is no need to print markers. Simply use one of the 6 supported currencies, 1 US Dollar, 5 Canadian Dollars, 5 Euros, 5 UK Pounds, 1000 Yen or 50 Rubles and point your phone at the note. Once the bill has been recognised you’ll take control of the guns on an AC130 armoured ground attack aircraft where you get to blow things up in the various missions. The game action takes place high in the sky from the gunners seat, if you have ever watched the CNN footage showing the pilots eye view during an attack the game play is similar. If you fancy yourself as a gunner or just want to blow things up the game is available in beta for Android devices and can be installed free here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJXghZTiXw

iPhone owners who like the look of the game take a look at Zombie Gunship which is a very similar concept with out the AR aspect.

Paparazzi
Paparazzi developed by Pixel-Punch was the winner of the Qualcomm Augmented Reality Challenge. In the game you are a paparazzi assigned with the task of capturing pictures of a celebrity who appears on either a marker that can be downloaded from the developers website or a US Dollar bill. The celebrity appears to be a harmless unassuming English country gent gets annoyed if you move the camera in too close for a picture and will jump onto your phone in an attempt to break the camera. If that happens you’ll need to shake the phone to try and shake him loose. For 66p it’s a lot of fun but it could do with a couple more characters. The game can be downloaded here. Interestingly the game is the first game I am aware of that reacts to the phone being placed in close proximity to the AR character. Most AR examples just make the character larger but Paparazzi provides character interaction.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQVdWIBdHA

Continued on page 2

Zombie Room AR Android Game

lester — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:42:50 +0000

I have always been a sucker for anything zombie related. Games, books, movies and anything else you can throw at me. When the guys over at No, You Shut Up Games contacted me to tell me about their new AR Zombie game, it was too good an invitation to pass up.

Most AR games involve using your camera to view your surroundings while fighting off hordes of as they come at you from all angles. You know the type where you wave the phone around frantically while looking like you are being attacked by a swam of invisible bees. Zombie Room AR is different, its a slower paced puzzle game where you pit your wits against a zombie that’s stalking you. But just because its slower it doesn’t mean its not full of suspense and strategy. To survive each level you’ll need to lead the zombie to a trap which needs to be sprung at the just right time, as you progress you are presented with different types of traps.

Of course being an AR game you’ll need to print the tracking image which displays the level, once printed and viewed in your Android’s camera window you’ll see a 3D game room which can me navigated.

If you like puzzle games then the game is well worth a look. The free demo version which can be downloaded for your Android phone here.

For the technical among you, you’ll notice how smooth the tracking is. The game has been developed using the Qualcomm AR SDK and is able to recognizes the tracking image even in pretty poor lighting conditions so there is very few instances where the game disappears. Neat stuff.

Zombie Room AR

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhCIgPUqI4o

AR! Pirates

lester — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:37:33 +0000

If you have an iPhone and you’re looking for a little natural feature tracking gaming, or just want to earn a few office guru points, take a look at the new(ish) AR! Pirates game from Special Move Games. The game is a novel first person shooter that pits you against fleets of approaching pirate ships. As the game is an augmented reality game you’ll need a few pieces of gold (three coins will do just fine) to create the playing surface. Simply arranged the coins in a triangle pattern and the level will be drawn over the coins. While keeping the coins in the phones camera window shoot your cannon at the attacking pirates before they steal your treasure.

The game is simply enough to play and is certainly demo worthy when you pick up your change at the bar and want to impress your friends over a beer. I’ll be keeping in on my phone for demos in the future. However there is an annoying aspect that I found. While the game is free from the App Store it is ad supported. Unfortunately the advert is right at the top of the screen and I found the pirates often sailed behind the ad making them hard to shoot. There is a $0.99 (£0.59) in app purchase that gives you more levels and I assume removes the ads.

AR! Pirates is the most fun you can have with the coins in your pocket (unless you know better). You can install it from here

AR! Pirates in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=al7StPimtRs

Augmented Reality for Kids

lester — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:36:01 +0000

WITZ, a popular TV program for pre-schoolers in Singapore has launched an augmented reality interactive campaign to bring the TV characters to life.

The software takes the form of markers that represent the main characters from the show, which when presented to the webcam they bring the characters to life in 3D and should prove hours of fun for the younger members of the family.

It’s good to see some augmented reality aimed at the younger audience. If you want to give the app a try, you can find out more at: www.witz.sg/alive.html

String AR Demos You Need To Try

lester — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:30:43 +0000

Having just finished a post about the amazing String AR SDK I wanted to follow up with a post for those of you who are not developers. If you are looking for some cool augmented reality demos that you can play around with and obtain the much coveted demo God status, take 10 minutes to download the String AR iPhone (iPad) application and prepare to amaze your friends and colleagues. These demos are guaranteed to provide that AR wow factor.

The demos include:

Scrawl – AR drawing

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pl_4Cn9Bl4

Pharaoh’s Fury - an augmented reality game

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEVOheUrm0w

Proto – cute 3D alien

Clayful – mouldable virtual putty

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7u6luBO2Lo

Sneaker – view 3D sneaker (trainer for the rest of us)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6VPK-OyQwo

The above demos, which I’m sure you’ll agree are pretty amazing, are part of the String Augmented Reality Showcase application that you can download completely free from iTunes. Once you have downloaded you’ll need to print, or point you camera at the markers to trigger the AR. The markers that can be found here.

Red Bull Racing – Amazing Augmented Reality Game

lester — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:19:55 +0000

I have seen some interesting augmented reality games that use markers enabling you build a custom game environment. Augmented Reality Tower Defender for Symbian and Drift from Slapdown Games are two that spring immediately to mind. Red Bull however have taken the concept to an entirely new dimension

I have to admit when the press release arrived in my in-box yesterday I thought I had misread it. The concept of using cans of Red Bull to build your own unique augmented reality racing game for your iPhone seemed like a far-fetched concept. Amazing Red Bull has done exactly that.

To play simply arrange cans of Red Bull in the circuit you would like to race. Once you have created your perfect circuit use the Red Bull application to scan the tops of each can. The application uses Advanced Sensor Fusion (a combination of gyroscope, compass and accelerometer input) to track the motion of the phone between the cans and metaio’s natural feature tracking technology (the same technology used in the junaio browser) to identify the Red Bull cans.

All that wonderful data is then processed by the application to build a 3D track based on your unique design. If all that wasn’t enough you can also share the track with your friends and challenge them to beat your time.

The game is truly ground breaking and will be a tough app to beat in this years Readers Choice Awards. The game has been developed in conjunction with Circ.us, which is a leader in uncovering remarkable uses for gameplay, animation, 3D and cross-platform creative execution.

Take a look at the game in action here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSM8Dap-AFE

The application is free and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store here.

AR Hockey – 3D Shootout Game

lester — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:00:11 +0000

I’m not a huge fan of sports. It football (don’t make me say soccer) or nothing for me. I have been to an American Football game which was 3 hours of my life that could have been put to better use, and a baseball game in Boston where I managed to knock half a pint of Guinness over someone’s head. I was sitting above the exit at the time and stretched out my leg sending a plastic cup half full with Guinness down into the abyss below. Unfortunately someone managed to break the cups fall, let’s say they weren’t happy. The good news however was the guy next to me got the blame but that’s another story.

Hockey looks like a fun sport and if you fancy a game then AR has the answer. Canada’s Arcane Technologies have created an AR game that utilises your webcam and a marker for Best Buy that challenges you to score as many goals as possible in 2 minutes. The challenging part is you use a marker and gravity to control the hockey rink.

Take a look at the game in action here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE2T-DChGlE

You can take up the hockey challenge and test the game on the Best Buy website here.
http://www.bestbuy3d.ca

Nestle AR Gesture Games

lester — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:12:59 +0000

Zugara are somewhat experts in area of gesture recognition. If you have followed AR for a while you will know they are the brains behind the Fashionista application that enables consumers to try on clothes from the comfort of their living rooms. Recently however Zugara have turned their attention to creating gesture recognition games, you may remember their first Nestle Factory Game which we reviewed recently.
Nestle it appears were so impressed with the results they have continued working with Zugara who have been busy creating two follow up titles.

Fruit Ensemble is a rhythm-based game where the player must use their hands to tap fruit (that appears randomly around them) in time with the music. Think “Whack-A-Mole”, only the “moles” appear in random places all around the player.

Fruit Mixer Studio let’s people tap fruit to mix and record unique beats that can be saved to a desktop or sent directly to a mobile phone as a ringtone.
Neither game requires a marker or anything special. Simply visit the page below and interact with the screen by using your webcam.

Juicy Juice games in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPu8hgOTJ8I

For the developers among you wondering how you create solutions like this, you can learn more about Zugara’s motion capture software here.

Play the games http://www.juicyjuice.com/Tools/Fruit-Games.aspx

Smoki AR Facebook Fun

lester — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:34:10 +0000

If you have a Facebook account take a look at the Smoki augmented reality game.

If you have no idea what Smoki’s are, think Wotsits if you’re British, think Cheetos if you’re from across the pond. Smoki’s I’m informed by Ivan Rečević from HUGE Media, the games creator are a local brand of cheesy snacks from Serbia, but their snacky goodness is irrelevant. What is important is the game requires you to eat as many of the snacks as they fall from the screen as possible. This can be achieved either by moving the mouse to control the character or by using your webcam.

In the webcam mode you use your head to eat the snacks as they fall. The more you catch the higher the score. It’s a good example of using head tracking as a human interface and the challenge friends option is a nice touch. The campaign is over but the game is still live so check it out at: http://apps.facebook.com/gladni-zabave/

While on the subject of Facebook. You can become a fan of Augmented Planet page here:

Rise of the undead for the Samsung bada

lester — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:00:05 +0000

Hunting ghost and killing the undead is everyone’s favourite augmented reality gaming hobby. Until recently zombie killing goodness the AR way has been reserved almost exclusively for iPhone and Android owners with Symbian getting thrown the odd bone.

Samsung bada owners now have cause for cheer with the release of the new augmented reality game, Rise of the Undead.

The game Samsung tell us is the first augmented reality game for the device based on their new AiRaid framework and it is available free from the bada store.

The video below hardly gives a glimpse of the game but you know the way AR games play out. Point your camera, swivel around a bit, shoot the monsters as they appear in the camera window. While its not the most compelling video you will see, with the amount of money that Samsung are investing in their bada platform and targeting developers The bada platform could be worth a look. If you are at Mobile World Congress they are running workshops for developers. You can apply here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tA5YsxXOkQ

AR App Gun

lester — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:12:46 +0000

If you are looking for that little extra realism with your augmented reality games, AppToyz, a UK games company could have the answer.

The AppToyz solution is a gun shaped holder for your mobile phone. There is no electronics in the device, instead the trigger controls two rubberised fingers (for want of a better word) which tap the screen. Of course games will need to be designed specifically for the AR gun to ensure that the fingers tap in the right places. In the video below you can see the gun in action.

I’m not sure about this one, I worry about my expensive phone flying through the air in the heat of an AR battle. It will be interesting to see if developers begin to build compatible games.
From what I understand the gun will be priced around £15-$20 ($25-$30) mark.

The AR Gun in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N64IQN1MtdI

AR Invaders

lester — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:03:09 +0000

Those pesky aliens are at it again, invading our cities, forests, living rooms and just about anything else they can. The last line of Earth’s defence is you. God help us.

AR Invaders and Look Up are two new games courtesy of Soulbit7 that bring the classic alien space invaders genre up to date with a fresh augmented reality feel. The game uses the tried and tested augmented reality formula of enabling the camera window so the action takes place in 360 around your surroundings. You can also team up with other members of the Earth’s Resistance Forces (or your friends) to drive back the alien hordes.

Regardless of whether you decide to take on the aliens alone or with a friend, you’ll need quick reflexes as the aliens don’t hang about waiting for you to shoot them.

AR Invaders / Look Up in action

While it appears are two games, AR Invaders and Look Up, they are both in fact the same game. The difference being AR Invaders is exclusive for the iPhone 4 as it makes use of the gyroscope. iPhone 3G users however can still play the game via AR Invaders.

iPhone 4 owners can download the free AR Invaders Lite version to give the game a try. (Full price $1.99) AR Invaders is on special offer of $0.99 so get it while its on special.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl_L0ilxqzs

Ghost Blasters AR Game For The iPhone

lester — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:15:50 +0000

Release just in time for Halloween but unfortunately the email sat unread in my inbox for the last week or so, it’s the new augmented reality game Ghost Blasters for the iPhone.

The game sees you take on the role of a ghost hunter where using your iPhone as your trusty energy radar you can track down and locate the ghosts that are present around you. Once you find one of the many different types of ghosts that are present in the game, they become visible in the camera window where you can use your laser to extract their yummy ectoplasmic goodness. The game is the work of French developers MomorProds, and for their first foray into the world of augmented reality gaming they have done a pretty good job. It is well worth a look.

The game is free for the Halloween period, so bear in mind my lateness with the news, snap it up now from the Apple App Store to get it while its still free.

Ghost Blasters

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wclHgUOJuwQ

Ghost Blaster fans can also visit the Facebook page

Look-Up the Aliens are coming

lester — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:55:26 +0000

Augmented reality accelerometer games continue to be all the rage for mobile developer. One of the latest additions to the genre for iPhone owners is Look-Up which gives players the opportunity to fight off the ever present threat of invading aliens.

If you are not familiar with augmented reality games, they take place in your surrounding by enabling the camera as the backdrop. If you play outside the aliens will attack from over the top of your house, trees etc. The game takes place in 360 degrees so you’ll be moving around a lot. Your neighbours are sure to think you are being attacked by bees as you swing around cursing an unseen enemy. Inside for couch potatoes like myself, the game can be restricted to 180 degrees so you can sit peacefully on the sofa and still do your bit to defend Earth.

There are numerous games in this genre but at £0.59 ($0.99) Look-Up gives you a pretty decent game, along with a multiplayer mode so you can fight for Earth with your friends.

Look-Up

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bps3FkX-_cY

(Get Look-Up)

Augmented reality gaming, a fad too far?

lester — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:11:43 +0000

I like computer games as much if not more than the next person. There is nothing better than relaxing by switching on the TV, killing a few aliens or shooting a few bad guys from the comfort of the living room chair. I even partake in the odd iPhone game from time to time as I enjoy a spot of casual gaming. However, is it just me or are augmented reality game developers going out their way to get me out the house?

There are a couple of augmented reality, geo-location aware games available across Nokia, iPhone, and Android platforms that require you to leave the comfort of your home to play them. Gigaputt for example is an urban golf game where your neighbourhood becomes the course. You make your way around the course by walking from one location to another using Google Maps to navigate, and to putt the ball in the hole using your iPhone. Fortunately for urban sloth’s like myself the game has a Snoring Mode where you can play indoors with out the need to venture into the great outdoors.

TagDis is another example of a geo-location game that uses augmented reality. With TagDis you drop graffiti at your current location in your bid to become the king of an area. It’s simple and addictive as you’re free to use it at anytime and anywhere. I have my lazy moments where I sit on the train seeing how many tags I can drop before we go in to a tunnel. As a result, I own pretty much all of East London now.

Nokia entered the augmented reality gaming market with a game called ‘Conspiracy For Good’. The game developed in conjunction with Tim Kring (the director of Heroes), sees players pit their wits against a corrupt company, using their Nokia device players can take on assignments in their city to help bring the company down. Rather than being a simple game where you wonder aimlessly to the end of the road and back, participants need to follow clues on the games website. These clues will require the player to travel to locations and point at objects and images in the real-world using the devices camera to discover the next clue. The production values for Conspiracy For Good are high with lots of conspiracy type movies to engage players so full credit to Nokia for putting in the effort.

Conspiracy For Good

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSho7VZMhtY

Personally I am not sold on the theme for this particular game, political thrillers, corruption and global self-awareness are not something I find interesting outside of a Tom Clancy novel, but that’s just me, I think if the concept and story is right it could be an interesting idea.

Are games like Conspiracy For Good where you need to actively travel your city to solve problems the type of games that you mobile/augmented reality gamers want to play, or are these games a fad doomed to have been a nice idea?

Rock’em Sock’em Robots

lester — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:35:12 +0000

Android owners have been able to enjoy natural feature recognition applications for sometime. Recently Zenitum where showing off their Space InvadAR game, but beyond that, for some strange reason despite developers having full access to the camera we haven’t seen a huge number of natural feature recognition games arriving on the platform. I always find that strange since iPhone developers number one gripe at Apple has been the lack of access to the camera API. (which has been granted now).

Qualcomm have been working with Mattel to produce a rather nice game based on Rock’em Sock’em Robots. Print the game board and point your camera to take control of a boxing robot. Of couse being an augmented reality game you can move your device around the game board to view your fighter from different angels, if your friends have the game then you can both play over Bluetooth.

MobileCruch have a rather nice write up which you can find here, and they have put together a video of the game which you can view below.

Rock’em Sock’em Robots

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm6jExcWr9s

AR Monopoly Concept

lester — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:28:50 +0000

From time to time an augmented reality concept will pop-up that you know will never see the light of day no matter how much you want it. AR Monopoly is a good example of what looks like a university project based around the famous board game.

While the game looks interesting, don’t hold your breath as we are not likely to see it anytime soon. Still, it’s interesting that Monopoly is one of the few games that has been on every format and still going strong after 75 years. Kind of reminds me of the Star Wars movies.

AR Monopoly

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H384S7AoXcs

iPhone Natural Feature Recognition Game – Coming Soon

lester — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:07:11 +0000

iPhone OS 4.0 will bring about a big change in the types of augmented reality applications we see uploaded to the appstore. As we speak developers are busy perfecting the first batch of marker based applications which will form the first wave that will hit the store in early July. However, it’s good to see that developers are also using the newly available camera API to produce natural feature tracking games.

The first of such games looks like being Flying Legends, a flight simulator that enables players to pilot an aircraft which can take off/land on real surfaces like tables and floors. Take a look at the demo below for sneak peak.

Flying Legends

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_n_qGprsvw

Who you gonna call? Ghost Bastards

lester — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:46:33 +0000

Nope not a typo but a new augmented reality game for the iPhone. If you have played Pandemica or Arcade Reality then the game is very similar, only this time instead of pitting your wits against an Alien attack you’ll be fighting for survival against hordes of ghosts who’ll attack you with their ectoplasm.

Being an augmented reality game, the game takes place in the camera window so you’ll be able to fight the ghost in your own home, but if you have an iPod or iPhone 3G you can still play the game which will work without enabling the camera.

The game features 2 modes, adventure mode where you have to capture the required number of ghosts on each level in order to proceed, or survival where the ghosts continue to attack and you try to survive as long as possible. As you play the game you’ll start out with the lowely rank of Newbie and work your way up to the rank of Divine Warrior

An nice touch is the synthesized Ghostbusters music, as is the automatic save functionality, when you load the game it asks if you want to continue where you left off so you are not forced to repeat the early levels. The game is pretty entertaining, sometimes the ghost are a bit difficult to find despite the arrow indictors on the slide of the screen giving you helpful hints where they are located, but its still enjoyable never the less.

Ghost Bastards is $0.99 for a limited time only in the iTunes AppStore.