AR Games Hands On Preview

Augmented reality was already pretty cool in its own right. Add in 3D, and now you have double cool.

Surprisingly, the best 3DS demo on the floor wasn't a real game in its own right. Rather, a tech demo designed to show off three pieces of technology featured in the 3DS: The Camera, Motion Sensors, and of course, the 3D effect.

The tech demo started simple enough. The kind girl working the demo handed me the 3DS and asked me to hold the system a reasonable distance from a piece of paper on the table that featured a picture of a coin block in the shape of a card. The game was able to discover how far away from the card I was and at what angle, and allowed me to move to the perfect position to begin the demo.

Shortly after reading the card, all around the card, edges formed from the table and slowly stood up and joined in the middle to form a box. The box then broke open revealing a giant statue with targets on it.

The girl working the display let me know that I could move about freely around the card. As I did, I was able to discover new sides of the statue, allowing me to shoot the featured targets. This effect was astounding. Essentially, the 3DS was a portal into an alternate world that I could use to angle my view in that world, allowing me to see exactly what was going on.

After destroying enough targets, the statue burst into pieces and in its place came a giant dragon. This tasked me to put together all of my skills and defeat each layer of him one by one until he was destroyed. In the process, I had to physically move to avoid attacks, whether it be away from my current location or sidestepping left or right.

It's hard to qualify in words just how amazing this demo was. It looked gorgeous, it played great, and it was very exciting to contemplate the possible gameplay combinations that will result from this technology.

Like the other 3DS demos, this one was quite brief, but a significant amount of fun.

Our Take

Jason Ross Senior Editor

06/17/2010 at 10:20 AM

There was more to it than Nick lets on! At one point, after the first set of targets is broken, the entire area the card is on stretched in and out, making a table essentially look like it's made of oscillating Jello.

The Dragon, itself, looked very detailed, at least to me. The design, I felt, was something similar to what you'd expect from Metroid crossed with those Paper Mario dragon bosses, like Fracktail or Wracktail, or whatever they're called.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens, but actually seeing augmented reality play out this way on the 3DS would've sold me on the product if absolutely nothing else were shown at E3 about it.

Anonymous

06/17/2010 at 11:57 AM

Your body moved IRL to avoid attacks in the game? That is amazing. Makes even the Wii seem a little dated, no?

Matt R Staff Alumnus

06/17/2010 at 12:11 PM

06/17/2010 at 02:44 PM

Definitely. This is the game to see, or tech demo to see, or the thing to see of the show, honestly. Hands down.

Kathrine Theidy Staff Alumnus

06/17/2010 at 05:40 PM

This doesn't sound like a good idea for a portable system. This isn't the kind of action I'd want to perform in a public place, and this game sounds like it couldn't be played in enclosed spaces, like a bus, or car, or... office cubicle, perhaps.

06/18/2010 at 07:02 PM

While it isn't something that could just be played anywhere, I wouldn't say getting the full experience out of the demo required tons of space, either. It's perfect for a portable system because it allowed you to move around and see things from different angles.

Trust me when I say it worked in a small area without much space to move in, and worked very well. You wouldn't play it on a bus or a car, but you'd want to show it off to your co-workers in your office ;)

PixlBit