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Could Augmented Reality Games Be A Game Changer For Apple?

There’s something intriguing about being able to physically control a game by using your bodies movements. It seems to have become the latest trend now with the Wii spearheading the console revolution and putting movement into our collective conciseness. With Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s wand also set to debut in 2010 it’s pretty easy to say that 2010 will be the year of motion controlled games like it or not.

Could Augmented Reality games be a game changers for Apple?

Could 2011 become the year of augmented reality games? Sure the PS2 &amp- PS3 as well as the Xbox 360 all have camera’s that would allow for some augmented games, but Both Sony and Microsoft have failed miserable in supporting said devices. The problem is they are an add-on and no one makes games for add-ons period.

Apple however could surpass what Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have done for gaming with the iPhone 3GS and possible future versions of the iPad with camera’s and GPS built in.

Augmented Reality games could spark a massive change in the gaming community, which seems to be dying with blatantly rehashing and copying of the same core games over and over.

Imagine games that actually required you to physically move not slightly but entire rooms to avoid virtual GPS based attacks in a multiplayer real time strategy game?

With the recent release of Sky Siege (US$3) gamers can get a glimpse of the possible future of gaming right now. The game (which resembles more like a glorified tech demo than a real game) requires users to dodge bullets and missiles by actually moving away from incoming objects while turning left and right to follow and lock on to aircraft.

We have included a video to show you what the gameplay looks like, and we wonder if could see yourself playing these types of games on the iPhone and iPad or would these types of games be better suited for the consoles?


3 Replies to “Could Augmented Reality Games Be A Game Changer For Apple?”

  1. hkiphone

    “Imagine games that actually required you to physically move not slightly but entire rooms to avoid virtual GPS based attacks in a multiplayer real time strategy game?”

    I like this idea you added!

    Thought about it more, and you could almost be playing something like virtual Paintball, where you’re ducking into trenches for cover, and firing rockets at exposed opponents. But to bystanders, it would all look really hilarious, like kids using imaginary guns in playgrounds… but really they’re using virtual weapons of mass destruction!

  2. Glenn

    Exactly what I said. The iPad has a HUGE market place. Though I think the lack of a camera will hurt them from the start, as most people who bought iPhone know each year there is an update so most will wait for that first update to get one.

    However if they can market it to these types of people who want to get online but do not want the complications I can seethe iPad becoming the dominant home PC in a few years.

  3. snow_mani

    One of my work colleagues is in her 50s and recently upgraded to a large TV and decided to get a Wii. She’s never ever gamed before, had seen her nephews and nieces playing it thought it looked like fun. She and her mum now play Wii games every week. Her mum is in her 70s. Two more unlikely converts to “gaming” you’d be hard pressed to find. They are enjoying it so much that she asked me about the iPad. Turns out she wants one and because I have an iPhone she thought I could answer her questions about it. If Apple can improve the “augmented reality” gaming experience then there is a large market of people who are hungry for more now they have been introduced to it via the Wii.

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