Magic Leap’s first developer’s conference, called L.E.A.P., has taken place in Los Angeles this week. Demonstrations included Star Wars, Angry Birds and location-based experiences.
The conference saw the launch of a number of location-based entertainment ventures powered by AR, as well as some for at-home use.
Magic Leap chief content officer Rio Caraeff spoke to Variety magazine about the future of Magic Leap in Location Based Entertainment.
He said:Ā āWe think that market, those location-based experiences, is huge.”
Large scale AR experiences fuelling purchase decisions
āWe think [large scale experiences are] gonna be how a lot of people try the stuff for the first time,ā he said. The company is working with partners on location-based AR experiences which the company hopes will result in purchase decisions.Ā
One such experience is being introduced by art collective Meow Wolf. Called the Navigator, it is a giant robot vehicle. Attendees don AR glasses to interact with the robot via a combination of touch screen displays and AR imagery of distant galaxies.
Lucasfilm and Rovio
Lucasfilmās ILMxLAB showed off their new creation called Star Wars: Project Porg. It allows users to raise bird-like creatures called Porgs from the planet Ahch-To.
Rovio Entertainment and Resolution Games also demonstrated their brand new Angry Birds game: First Person Slingshot. It plays the same as the traditional Angry Birds but overlayed into the real world.
Magic Leap is an industry leader in Augmented Reality that has received investment from the likes of Google. They launched their debut product the Magic Leap One Creator Edition. It currently ships for $2,295.
The Magic Leap One features a headset (Lightwear), a small computer (Lightpack), and a handheld controller. Cameras on the headset map the environment and also track your eye movement. Adi Robertson, a tech reporter at The Verge, tried the headset and called it āsurprisingly comfortableā.