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If you're not impressed with the current crop of AR content, and you're worried this may put a damper on the industry's growth, these stories should give you cause for some optimism. As Magic Leap builds momentum in the run-up to the launch of its Magic Leap One headset, the ...more

Facebook is preparing to make augmented reality experiences for brands more visible in its mobile app with Tuesday's introduction of augmented reality ads in its News Feed. News Feed AR ads will enable advertisers to insert AR camera effects, from virtual product try-ons to p ...more

Last month was a whirlwind for the augmented reality industry, with the Augmented World Expo, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, and an exciting Magic Leap Twitch livestream all wrapping up before the ides of June. Now that we've had a chance to fully digest it all, we h ...more

Location-based gaming pioneer Niantic has offered a preview of its augmented reality cloud platform that could change the immersive content game yet again. Previously disclosed by Niantic CEO John Hanke in an interview, the Niantic Real World Platform for mobile apps enables ...more

While it has been slower to arrive than a walker limping through thick Georgia mud, location-based augmented reality game Walking Dead: Our World finally has a confirmed launch date: July 12. Along with a release date, the game's publisher, Next Games, has provided a few more ...more

At present, consumer-facing augmented reality is a mobile world, and Snapchat is making money on it through advertising partnerships. The future, however, is in wearables, and that future is getting closer. While Magic Leap is lining up content for the launch of Magic Leap On ...more

The Power Rangers universe is massive, spanning numerous shows and movies that feature different heroes — from the original dinosaur-themed Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, to Power Rangers Samurai, and so on. To tie it all in, Nexon has soft launched Power Rangers: All Stars in ...more

Last week's Augmented World Expo felt like a distant memory by this Monday, as Apple unveiled ARKit 2.0 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Certainly, this news would overshadow anything augmented reality this week as it nearly eclipsed AWE when early reports leaked ...more

Escape rooms, those real world puzzle games that challenge teams to solve a mystery and gain their freedom from a locked room, are all the rage right now. But augmented reality games such as The Lockdown could make them obsolete. Available now via the App Store and Google Pla ...more

As expected, Apple revealed today at the WWDC keynote that ARKit 2.0 will support multiplayer gaming support and persistent content, which will arrive this fall with iOS 12. In addition to persistent and shared experiences, ARKit 2.0 will bring improved face tracking, more re ...more

This time last year, computer vision company uSens introduced a stereo camera module capable of hand tracking. Now, uSens can achieve the same thing with just a smartphone's camera. On Thursday, at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, uSens unveiled the beta version of it ...more

The premise of Jurassic World revolves around splicing genes to create new dinosaurs, so it is fitting that the location-based AR game is a clone of Pokémon GO merged with the DNA of the Jurassic Park franchise. Hatching now in the App Store and Google Play, Jurassic World Al ...more

On May 17 2018, Valve released the Android beta version of their Steam Link app, which allows you to stream Steam games from your computer directly to your phone. You'll probably also want to connect your favorite controller to your phone, but you may run into some issues if y ...more

Despite numerous reports announcing its stateside arrival, "Final Fantasy Awakening" has yet to show up in the iOS App Store, much to the chagrin of millions of fans in the U.S. Unfortunately, the game seems to be stuck in soft-launch limbo, with no word as to when it'll land ...more

In the wild world of Snapchat lenses, this week was an especially good one for cool effects. Lens-crafters (really hoping I can get that name to stick) have gotten a lot better at making non-gimmicky lenses that allow you to interact with them in new and unique ways. New to t ...more

In the arms race between ARKit and ARCore, Google scored a big win with the announcement of its Cloud Anchors shared AR experiences platform at Google I/O on Tuesday. A developer session held on Wednesday offered more detail on how multi-user experiences built via Cloud Ancho ...more

There was a huge Marvel movie that opened a week ago, and a popular TV show just finished its second episode of the current season. Both of these facts translate to more cool Snapchat lenses to try out on your iPhone or Android phone, thanks to Snapchat's Lens Studio — where a ...more

PUBG is continually getting better and more intuitive with each update, and version 0.4.0 is no exception. Besides a new training map to help you practice and a faster-paced arcade mode for on-the-go gaming, the newest version of PUBG now includes a feature that exclusively ca ...more

While having no internet connection is definitely a bad thing when you need it, you can at least bide your time until you're back online with a hidden Easter egg inside of the Google Chrome browser. This gem unlocks a secret side-scrolling game that can keep you busy during yo ...more

Spring is finally here (in earnest now), and a new batch of great augmented reality Snapchat lenses have come along with it. New life has been breathed into meme culture with the spring lineup of TV shows, Mark Zuckerberg's ongoing investigation, and college kids with too much ...more

Mobile gamers are well aware of this, but zombie shooters have become pretty stagnant and unimaginative in recent years. Too many entries in this genre feature the same cookie-cutter gameplay, but thankfully, Gameloft aims to change this. The company has soft-launched Dead Riv ...more

With a fresh series of videos and a new webpage, Snapchat has composed an answer to its own question, "What is Snapchat?" In short, its answer is that "Snapchat is a camera." In an extended commercial (below) accompanying the new webpage, it's evident that the camera does qui ...more

Alongside the usual collection of holiday-themed Lenses, Snapchatters received an extra-special treat from Snapchat over the weekend—a world-spanning Easter egg hunt. Like a highly-simplified version of Pokémon GO, The Great Snapchat Egg Hunt challenged Snapchat users to retr ...more

This week's Game Developers Conference came at just the right time for Magic Leap, a company that was riding a wave of bad news from legal troubles and rumors regarding Magic Leap One. The event was the ideal backdrop for the company to unveil its Creator Portal and SDK, with ...more

If you want to play a game in the Play Store before committing to actually downloading and installing it, you can do that with Google's Android Instant Apps technology. However, if you don't see a "Try Now" button on the app's Play Store page, you'll need to check your Android ...more

Following the surprise release of Magic Leap's SDK on Monday, March 19, Unity, Unreal Engine, and Mozilla followed up by announcing official partnerships with the company. "We are proud to partner with Magic Leap to integrate the Magic Leap platform with Unity," Unity announc ...more

Noted poet T.S. Elliot once wrote that "April is the cruelest month." But Magic Leap might argue that March is the most miserable, as the Ides of March brought more legal woes to augmented reality startup. Elsewhere, its closely-held branding secrets have been spilled by way o ...more

HBO's Westworld has touched down on iOS as a mobile game, giving players the chance to manage their very own futuristic theme park set in the wild west. Unfortunately, the game is currently only available in select countries as a soft launch until its fully developed. But if y ...more

During the unveiling of its content partnership with the NBA, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz, with an assist from former player/current pitchman Shaquille O'Neal, described at least one of the ways fans would be able to experience sports using the augmented reality device. What ...more

On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joined Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz on stage to unveil a partnership between the two companies. While the device was not displayed on stage, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal appeared via video wearing a large-sized Magic Leap One: Creator Ed ...more

Now that we finally have vertical plane recognition in ARKit (at least on a developer level until the spring iOS 11.3 release), the real promise of mobile augmented reality is beginning to come into focus on iOS. But a new report indicates that a major near future advancement ...more

This week, saw two companies leaning on AR to prop up their financial futures. On one hand, Apple made quite a bit of AR-related news ahead of its quarterly earnings report next week. On the other hand, Vuzix launched a pre-order program for its Blade smartglasses and closed ...more

A new survey of game developers paints a somewhat less than rosy future for augmented reality gaming, but there's still some hope for its long-term prospects. The Game Developers Conference, which is holding its annual event in March in San Francisco, recently surveyed about ...more

On Monday, toy maker Merge virtually blasted its way into CES 2018 with a new tech-meets-toys innovation in the form of an augmented reality gun controller for use with smartphone-powered first-person shooter apps. The 6DoF Blaster (6DoF refers to "six degrees of freedom"), a ...more

When it comes to mobile gaming, you have a lot of fantastic options. Most flagship devices on the market, such as the Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8 Plus, or OnePlus 5T, are perfectly capable of giving you an excellent, immersive experience. If you're looking for the ultimate way to ...more

If you used Touch ID on an iPhone before, all you had to do to install apps and games from the App Store was rest your fingertip on the Home button. On the iPhone X, there's Face ID instead, and Apple has included on-screen instructions to help everyone adjust to the lack of H ...more

Nowadays, with the convenience of online shopping, brick-and-mortar retailers and malls have to work harder to draw shoppers to stores. This year, many of them are turning to augmented reality for assistance. Mall mainstay Swarovski has partnered with AR developer Perfect Cor ...more

For those who thought the action in Pokémon Go was a bit too pedestrian, Father.io wants to recruit you for a multi-player, first-person shooter that unfolds on the streets of your own city. Through a mobile app, available now on the App Store and Google Play, and a pocket-si ...more

With Google's release of Poly API on Thursday, the search giant has found a way to simplify the workflow for AR creators by enabling the ability to integrate its 3D object search engine Poly directly into an application. While services like Turbosquid and Sketchfab, websites ...more

Just over a week after debuting, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp received its first-ever event geared toward the winter holiday season. With the ability to craft Christmas-themed goodies and own a full Santa suit, it's the perfect time to jump into Nintendo's latest hot mobile ga ...more

Thanks to Metaverse, it has never been this easy to create your own AR game. The platform gives users a web-based tool for building interactive AR experiences, with no coding knowledge necessary. Via a link or QR code, users can then share their project with others, who can v ...more

Who likes to buy apps? The answer is no one, of course. Unfortunately, as in life, the best apps and games don't come free. That's why it makes sense to wait until those apps go on sale before handing over your hard-earned cash. And what better day to find discounts in the iOS ...more

Crafting is an important aspect of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, as it helps you get animals to come to your campsite. However, it's also one of the best ways to get ahead in the game, and there are a number of reasons for this. Crafting serves as a necessary step in getting ...more

To the best of my recollection, Fruit Ninja was one of the first touchscreen games that appeared to really take advantage of the new paradigm of user input, turning the player's finger into a produce-slicing katana. At first blush, the latest title from Halfbrick Studios, mak ...more

Now that it's been officially released for Android, Monument Valley 2 shot to the top of our best paid puzzle games list, and rightly so. This was no easy feat, as the games we covered ran the gamut of puzzles and all had stellar reviews. But there's just something about Monum ...more

Just one day before the retail release of the iPhone X, Apple CEO Tim Cook trumpeted the company's continued success during an earnings call with reporters conducted via telephone. And while he rolled out the expected glowing praise for the new iPhone, what stood out most was ...more

Razer, the company known for PC peripherals and laptops, is joining the smartphone industry with a new device. Rumors have been swirling since they announced an event on November 1 at 4 PM EDT, but now, we have our best look yet with a leaked promotional video before the actua ...more

If you're following the classic Halloween playbook closely, you've already got a costume or three picked out, you've binged-watched your favorite horror movies, and you've likely visited a haunted house. But it's 2017, so how about trying something new, like a haunted house th ...more

For a company who hasn't released a product and has a reputation for being secretive, Magic Leap sure has a tendency to make waves. Over the past few weeks, they've refreshed their website design, released an abstract YouTube video, and announced a partnership with Madefire to ...more

While VR promises to take gamers to another world, AR has the potential to bring the game elements into your own neighborhood or home. Just in time for Halloween, ARZombi places your living room into the epicenter of a zombie outbreak, with your ARKit-compatible iPhone or iPa ...more

Mobile apps themselves are not always the end product or service for generating revenue. More often, they are deployed as tactics within a larger marketing or public relations strategy. For product manufacturers, apps can be used to sell anything from drinks and chips (by way ...more

You have a lot of choices when it comes to your next smartphone. iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel, G6, V20, and many more all vie for your wallet. Each of these phones are great for different purposes, but what if your main interest is mobile gaming? Which phone will give you the longest ...more

According to Digi-Capital, investors poured $1.8 billion into augmented and virtual reality companies over the last 12 months, including $300 million in the third quarter. These investments are not made without a means to monetize products and services. One way AR/VR earns re ...more

Clearly, the next big battlefield for tech gamesmanship between Apple and Google will be augmented reality. While the announcement of the new iPhones by Apple may have underwhelmed in the AR department, they did highlight their new ARCore platform and Core ML image recognitio ...more

To revise a line from the Blues Brothers, when it comes to ARKit apps, we've got both kinds — home utilities and games. As such, two more candidates for each category have made their way to the app store. In addition, one by one, NFL teams are taking a pass at augmented reali ...more

Directive Games received the enviable honor of unveiling their ARKit game, The Machines, on stage as part of Apple's iPhone launch presentation. The developer gave us a taste of the "moba-inspired AR PVP game" in July. At the time, they were one of the first game makers to pr ...more

Anyone who knows me well is aware that I am a cyberpunk junkie. The conflict between lowlifes, corporations, and the government, flavored with dystopian future, high technology, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and noir storytelling, just does something for me. Since I ...more

Whether you used it to remind yourself to buy a game or to store away that app recommendation that your friend begged you to download, the "Wish List" in the iOS App Store was a useful tool to keep track of new apps you might have wanted to install on your iPhone. But how can ...more

Apple's iOS 11 is finally here, and while they showed off several of the new features it brings to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch back at WWDC 2017, they've only just touched the surface of what iOS 11 has to offer. There are a lot of cool new (and sometimes secret) feature ...more

CEO (and NR50 member) Tim Cook and Apple unveiled the long-awaited lineup of next-generation iPhones today on stage of the Steve Jobs Theater, packed with hardware improvements to facilitate AR experiences from ARKit, which will arrive with the iOS 11 on Sept. 19. The new iPh ...more