Ar Wars

While "Baby Yoda" from The Mandalorian threatens to overshadow it, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters next week, which means it's time for Disney and Lucasfilm to ramp up its promotional strategy. And there's little surprise that augmented reality is part of ...more

Although The Last Jedi hype has mostly passed, there are still a good number of fans out there dueling Sith lords in augmented reality via their new Lenovo Mirage headsets. Now, thanks to an update on Thursday, those aspiring Jedi have a new AR challenge to engage in the Star ...more

Earlier this week, we told you about the new Star Wars augmented reality collaboration with Nissan that will bring the famed science-fiction franchise to auto showrooms, and now we can show you what it looks like. The AR experience, called "See the Unseen," which is only avai ...more

When Disney teased an augmented reality game called Star Wars: Jedi Challenges running on a headset from Lenovo, fans had more questions than Disney had answers. When? How much? Can I be a real Jedi? With official word today from Lenovo and Disney by way of IFA 2017 in Berlin ...more

A newly-filed patent application from Disney Enterprises, Inc. teases more augmented reality lightsaber duels, either for at-home gaming or for the media behemoth's forthcoming Star Wars theme park. The patent, titled "Augmented Reality Interactive Experience," describes a sy ...more

A Jedi does not seek adventure or excitement, but Star Wars fans can seek Jedi with the Find the Force augmented reality scavenger hunt promoting the launch of merchandise for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Between Sept. 1 and 3, participants are tasked with finding Find the Force ...more

Until Star Wars Jedi Challenges arrives in November, a forthcoming ARKit revision of HoloGrid: Monster Battle from Tippett Studios and Happy Giant, might be the closest most Star Wars fans can get to playing the HoloChess game from the movie. While it lacks the official Star ...more

Augmented reality is making many of our childhood dreams from Star Wars come true. A week after Lenovo gave us the ability to actually play Holochess, Apple has now made it possible to take live video of ourselves and layer on a (non-3D) hologram-like effect, closely resemblin ...more

It doesn't matter how cool or groundbreaking a particular technology is, if it doesn't offer the promise of big returns on investments, you'll have trouble drawing interest from both Silicon Valley and Wall Street. That's why we're increasingly seeing existing augmented realit ...more

To promote Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Disney and Lucasfilm released virtual porgs into the wilds of Snapchat via a Sponsored Lens on Sunday. The Lens placed a porg in your personal space via the rear-facing camera. Using the front-facing camera, the Lens also equipped users wi ...more

With just a few more days to go before its release in theaters, the Star Wars: The Last Jedi push has gone into overdrive. On Monday, Google released "The Last Jedi AR Stickers," a set of augmented reality stickers that lets users put a number of different Star Wars characters ...more

After spending a good portion of 2017 teasing us with images and bits of news, Lenovo, in a partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm, has finally released its Mirage AR headset along with the Star Wars: Jedi Challenge game collection. Let me preface this hands-on experience by l ...more

Move over, Star Wars. You're not the only Disney property that can play in the Lenovo Mirage AR headset anymore. On Thursday, superhero powerhouse Marvel unveiled Dimension of Heroes, a new mobile app for iOS and Android that, when holstered in a Lenovo Mirage AR headset and ...more

French automaker Renault is tapping into the promotional machine for Solo: A Star Wars Movie by deploying an AR experience through Shazam that's triggered via synergistic advertising. To access the experience, users scan the Shazam code embedded on bus stop advertisements in ...more

With the heavily anticipated installment of the God of War game series arriving on April 20, PlayStation has taken the opportunity to make its first foray into mobile augmented reality with a companion app. God of War: Mimir's Vision, available now for free on the App Store a ...more

The Force was awakened in many a household on Christmas morning this year, as evidenced by numerous recipients of newly unwrapped Star Wars: Jedi Challenges systems sharing their first lightsaber battles in augmented reality on social media. In case you've been exiled on Dago ...more

Whenever the name Magic Leap comes up, the talk inevitably seems to turn to the company's big-name backers and "unicorn-level" amounts of cash poured into the venture. And if it's not that, observers tend to focus on the company's market strategy and overall prospects. These ...more

Like Marvel's Avengers, Facebook's Camera AR platform now has a number of new AR superpowers at its disposal, so it is fitting that Earth's Mightiest Heroes have the distinction of displaying them. Available now in via Facebook on iOS and Android, the Avengers: Infinity War A ...more

Riding the coattails of one of the biggest movies this year, the first edition of the new Moviebill augmented reality magazine will be available at Regal Cinema theaters nationwide this weekend alongside the release Avengers: Infinity War. Moviegoers will be able to scan the ...more

The augmented reality team at USA Today closed out a prolific year of immersive storytelling with a hard-hitting companion piece exploring the controversial conflict in Afghanistan. This week, the publication ran an investigative story by reporter Brett Murphy that uncovered ...more

Think you're a true Star Wars fan? I bet you haven't created a demo using Apple's ARKit that creates a map of the entire Star Wars galaxy. How's that for being a fanatic? ARKit developer Namek Kural posted the demo on YouTube after previously abandoning a website with similar ...more

In the midst of outlining plans to release Pokémon Go in China and debut its new Harry Potter game during the back half of 2018, Niantic CEO John Hanke turned to the dark arts by taking a swipe at the company's AR gaming competition. During an interview with The Financial Tim ...more

When the Super Bowl airs, every other TV network puts on reruns because no one wants to face that juggernaut for ratings. The launch of a new iPhone is the Super Bowl of the tech world, with the launch of the iPhone X being the biggest one yet. So it's either unfortunate timi ...more

After facing reports of financial troubles over the past month, Magic Leap came out swinging this week with a big push for the enterprise segment of AR, including a repackaged Magic Leap 1, a suite of enterprise apps, and updates to Lumin OS and its supporting development ecos ...more

Thanks to the grandest of puns, May the 4th is Star Wars Day. And what better way to pay tribute to the space opera than with the augmented reality superpowers of Snapchat. While Disney has used AR via Snapchat, Facebook, and Google, among other outlets, to promote Star Wars ...more

If $200 was too much for you to get in on some Star Wars augmented reality action, Best Buy is now selling refurbished Star Wars Jedi Challenges sets for $79.99 and new ones for $99.99. Even better, Star Wars fans who order one today at standard shipping will likely receive t ...more

Just in time for the holiday season, Lenovo has released its Mirage AR head-mounted display with the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges game and accessories. Unfortunately, while its price point is a fraction of most other AR headsets, at the moment, it does have a few issues with the ...more

Disney Parks are hard at work bringing the technology from a long time ago in a land far away to life for the opening of Star Wars Land parks in Anaheim and Orlando in 2019. Much of the environment, characters, and peripherals can be recreated through construction, costumes, ...more

Apple has a sterling reputation when it comes to managing its supply chain; it's where CEO Tim Cook proved his mettle to succeed Steve Jobs. Now, the company has made a strategic investment with a supplier that will be crucial to its future plans for AR wearables. While Apple ...more

If you want your own lightsaber, you don't need to be a Jedi or have kyber crystals in your possession; now, thanks to augmented reality, all you need is an iPhone and a rolled up piece of paper. On Wednesday, app developer 2020CV released InstaSaber on the iOS App Store. The ...more

With an eye toward future iPhone X-focused augmented reality functions, Apple's new investment in one of its components vendors will increase production capacity for the technology behind its TrueDepth camera, but could also apply to its future AR ambitions. On the software s ...more

In the realm of social media, all roads lead to one destination: cracking the code of continuous partial attention dopamine hits. We learned this back in the days of Vine, before Twitter foolishly killed it. And I pointed my lens at the emerging trend back in 2016 when I highl ...more

There may be questions from some about the future of Magic Leap, but in Japan, The Force is with the augmented reality startup. Japan's arm of fashion retailer H&M and Disney are using the device to promote a special promotion of customized Star Wars apparel. Don't Miss: Mag ...more

Facebook's earnings calls are generally focused on numbers—revenue and user growth. But this week the company's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, carved out a significant portion of the call to elaborate on Facebook's plans for immersive computing. • Don't Miss: Facebook CEO ...more

Part of the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges experience that was once exclusive to users of Lenovo's Mirage AR headset is now available to anyone with an ARKit-compatible iOS device. The updated version of the Jedi Challenges app now lets iPhone and iPad users running iOS 11 to pla ...more

The price tag for the Microsoft HoloLens might be out of range for the average consumer's budget, but for enterprises, like BAE Systems, adopting the AR headset is yielding a return on the investment. And for those with even slimmer wallets, Best Buy just made the Lenovo Mirag ...more

It turns out that Dr. Grordbort's Invaders is not the only Magic Leap demo to become a reality for the Magic Leap One. ILMxLAB, the augmented and virtual reality arm of Lucasfilm, announced on Monday the Star Wars: Project Porg for Magic Leap One. The team didn't disclose whe ...more

Filmed in what appears to be a single continuous shot, war film 1917 is now the front-runner to conquer the Best Picture category of the Academy Awards after bringing home the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in the drama category. To commemorate the occasion, film buffs ...more

Any real Star Wars fan knows that fear is a path to the dark side, as it leads to anger, and then suffering. For players of Star Wars Jedi Challenges, though, access to the antagonistic side of the Force is now available through their mobile apps. The new Dark Side expansion, ...more

Next to things like natural disasters and disease, the specter of war is one of the only things that threatens to derail the 21st century's long stretch of technological innovation. Now a new app is using augmented reality to remind us of that by focusing on those most impacte ...more

The Star Wars saga may have occurred a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but Nissan is using a futuristic technology to bring stormtroopers and droids into its dealerships. As part of its promotional tie-in with the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi film, Nissan dealer ...more

Marvel and Walmart are looking to capitalize on the uber-successful Black Panther film with a mobile augmented reality app designed to push the franchise's merchandise. Enlisting mobile app developer Current Studios, the Explore Wakanda app for iOS and Android lets challenger ...more

As it turns out, Apple did get AR hardware into its retail stores for the 2017 holiday shopping season, but it's not the headset we've been hearing rumors about for years; it's the MekaMon battle-bot. Apple will be the exclusive retailer for the AR robot, which can be purchas ...more

The Force is strong with Lenovo, who is working with Disney and Lucasfilm to deliver an augmented reality headset and lightsaber handle for the forthcoming Star Wars: Jedi Challenges game. The headset and game were revealed at the D23 Expo, which is ongoing at the Anaheim Con ...more

Sony Pictures has tapped the powers of augmented reality as provided by startup 8th Wall & the Amazon Sumerian development platform to help it promote the latest motion picture manifestation of Spider-Man. On Monday, the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse mobile web AR experie ...more

The new WandaVision series is perhaps the hottest TV show on the Disney Plus streaming service since...well, its own The Mandalorian wrapped up its second season late last year. Now, after publishing AR experiences in partnership with Google to promote the latter, Disney has ...more

The Broadway musical War Paint is teaming with augmented reality cosmetics app YouCam Makeup to promote the show on iOS and Android devices. The musical, which centers on the famous rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, two cosmetics industry pioneers, has bee ...more

It's all fun and games until the technology is actually put into use and you realize augmented reality is now part of Death Star. That's what some AR insiders may be thinking once they get a look at the latest modified HoloLens 2 images released by the US Army. • Don't Miss: ...more

Help me, George Clooney. You're my only hope. If that mash-up of cultural references doesn't make sense, it will momentarily. To promote The Midnight Sky, the new film starring George Clooney and dropping via Netflix on December 23 (Happy Festivus), the streaming studio is la ...more

If you know your internet history, then you fondly remember the Star Wars Kid and his epic lightsaber display on YouTube. Now, many years later, everyone is following in the footsteps of the Star Wars Kid thanks to the Lenovo Mirage and the new Star Wars: Jedi Challenges app. ...more

Of all the ways I thought I'd be watching my favorite TV shows, on a floating orb was not one of them. Nevertheless, technology has managed to surprise me once again. A new demo has shown a 360° video being played on a floating orb in the middle of someone's room using Apple' ...more

The first season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian may be over, but the love for its biggest star, Baby Yoda, persists. And while Disney wasn't able to get Baby Yoda toys to fans in time for the gift-giving season, there's still at least one way to interact with the adorable youn ...more

Hollywood loves sequels so much that studios and their marketing teams are not too proud to release a sequel of an augmented reality promotion. After webbing up a web-based augmented reality experience to promote the theatrical release of Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse, So ...more

On this, the most cherished day for Star Wars fans, May the fourth, Lenovo has released a significant new update to its Star Wars: Jedi Challenges app: real person versus person lightsaber battles. Now, any two users who both have the Lenovo Mirage Jedi Challenges system (whi ...more

This year's holiday shopping season is shaping up to be fertile ground for augmented reality to show its worth, as both Walmart and Target have crafted immersive experiences designed to engage shoppers in the coming weeks. But the marketing similarities end there, because the ...more

Until self-driving cars become mainstream, augmented reality might be the next big technology to hit your dashboard. AR navigation company WayRay recently walked away with the grand prize at the AutoMobility LA trade show, beating out nine other startups with innovations incl ...more

Part of the mainstreaming of augmented reality is learning to adopt new habits around the hardware delivering these groundbreaking next-gen interface experiences. And while the top-tier, truly immersive AR devices like the HoloLens are not yet practical for day-long use, what ...more

Bus stops can provide shelter in the event of rain, and now they also protect you from augmented reality squid. Surprising recent commuters at bus stops in Los Angeles and New York, outdoor media company Outfront Media used the cover of night to add Watchmen-inspired augmente ...more

After some social media teasing, the Star Wars universe's Magic Leap debut has finally arrived. On Tuesday, Magic Leap announced the release of Star Wars: Project Prog, which is available for free via Magic Leap World. In addition, ILMxLAB, the immersive entertainment divisi ...more

Simulated training can help soldiers and sailors learn how to use their weapons safely, but simulations can sometimes lack the stressful environment of a real firefight. That's why the US Navy has developed a more realistic augmented reality simulator that runs on the Microso ...more