There were previous reports that Lenovo may be preparing to release a handheld PC gaming device that will compete with the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally. A recent article from Windows Report goes more in-depth regarding the rumored handheld device, while also revealing that there could be AR goggles to accompany ??it.

According to Windows Report, the glasses are part of a gaming ecosystem being developed by Lenovo. No relea??se date or price is given for the handheld or the glasses, and Lenovo has yet to confirm or deny the reports.

[caption id="attachment_394545" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Taki Udon.[/caption]

Lenovo’s Legion Go could have accompanying AR glasses

Windows Report had previ?ously revealed a f??ew images of the Legion Go handheld gaming device from Lenovo. It is reported to run Windows 11, and it may be unveiled at this year’s? IFA Berlin Trade Fair in September. The Legion Go wouldn’t be Lenovo’s first attempt at a handheld gaming console. The company once had plans to release the Legion Play, and a few prototype units were made available in China. However, the product was never widely released.

No specs are given regarding the AR glasses, though images suggest that it is meant to be used in tandem with the Legion Go. As for the handheld, it appears it will feature a microSD reader, an FPS mode switcher, as well as detachable controllers similar to the Nintendo Switch’s joy-cons. It is also expected to feature an “AMD Ryzen Z1 processor specifically designed for handheld Windows-based devices.�/p>

Using AR glasses, players could potentially blend virtual elements with the real world. A simple example of this can be found in Niantic's mobile game Pokemon Go which allows you to see your favorite critters in your living room. With a much more powerful device, such as a handheld gaming PC, even mor??e opportunities could be opened up.

Though AR glasses are an interesting ??idea, they won’t be the only ones on the market. Apple has unveiled the upcoming Vision Pro headset that will offer both augmented and virtual reality. Lenovo’s AR glasses could gain a competitive advantage if it manages to undercut the Vision Pro’s hefty $3,499 price tag.

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More than meets the WiFi

Niantic, the studio behind mobile phenomenon Pokemon GO, has revealed that it is worki??ng alongside developer Very Very Spaceship to produce a brand new augmented reality game, this time set in th??e Transformers universe.

Transformers: Heavy Metal is expected to follow a similar path to Niantic's other releases, allowing players to track down and battle Autobots and Decepticons in battles found within real-world locations. Niantic's tried-and-tested software engine, Lightship, will power the new game. Players w?ill side with the Autobots as part of the "Guardian Network", going head-to-head against the ferocious might of the villainous Deceptions.

"Transformers is th??e perfect franchise for A?R," said Niantic CEO John Hanke. "Battling and interacting with giant robots in the real world will be an amazing experience. We want to live up to the high expectations of Transformers fans around the world and bring them a game unlike anything they've played before."

Niantic, which is already beavering away at several games including Pokemon GO, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and a brand new Pikmin collaboration with Nintendo, expects Transformers: Heavy Metal launch later in 2021, after incoming trials in selected territories. Pre-registration is available over on the official Transformers: Heavy Metal site.

The post Pokemon GO d??ev Niantic announces new Transformers mobile title appeared first on Destructoid.

I love how you do that Hocus Pocus to me

As if Epic Games wasn't already in and out of the courtroom enough, the company has filed a new lawsuit against augmented reality firm Nreal. The Fortnite developer is suing the Chinese company over the similarities between its name and?? Epic's game engine "Unreal".

"Nreal was and is well aware of Epic and its Unreal marks," reads the suit, which was filed last week in a North Carolina cour?t. "Nreal does not just sell glasses, it has already developed and sold a game to be used with t?hose glasses. Nreal is wil?lfully trading off Epic's rights, causing confusion, and acting with callous disregard for Epic's prior rights."

Once again, "customer confusion" is the lawyer-panicking problem here, with Epic concerned that people will confuse Nreal's Smart Glass products with its own "Unreal" eng??ine and gaming brand. While Epic has been in protracted talks ??with Nreal since the latter filed the trademark in 2018, Epic has decided to take the matter to the courts.

Epic is seeking damages and legal fees for "the harm it has suffered, is suffering, and will continue?? to suffer as a result of Nreal's infringement," in addition to Nreal cease-and desisting with its use of the term. Meanwhile, Epic Games cont??inues its industry-changing trial with Apple. Busy times for the multi-billion dollar corporation.

The post Epic Games files suit against AR studio over ‘Nreal’ trademark appeared first on Destructoid.

Would it be sad if I used this feature to make all my Christmas cards this year?

I uninstalled Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp from my phone well before New Horizons hit the Switch, and I really haven't seen any reason to go back to it. It's still the cute? game I remember?? from when it launched, but it's shackled to fortune cookies and a subscription service I just don't want to deal with.

If anything, I was good and ready to forget all about the app until I found out today Nintendo has added AR functionality to it. That...might be enough to change my mind. As you can see in the trailer below, the new AR feature will allow players to bring their favorite campers into our world, and we'll be able to go into Pocket Camp to visit our friends in our cabins.

That's pretty damn neat. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is now available on mobile devices.

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Pokemon GO-alike coming next year

It's been a year since we first heard that the wizarding world of Harry Potter was being adapted into a new Pokemon GO style game, which is currently being developed by N?iantic for release on mobile device??s.

Wizards Unite will allow players to battle beasts and cast spells around their neighbourhood in typical augmented reality style. But it looks like the game will need a little more time in the cauldron, as its release window has now been put back from 2018 to sometime in 2019. To tide fans over, Publishers Portkey Games released the first trailer for Wizards Unite, which you can check out below.

Of course there's no gameplay footage as of yet, but the trailer sets the atmosphere for being able to role play that magical Hogwarts Lyfe in your own high street, which I'm sure is a pretty exciting prospect for Potter fans. Whether Wizards Unite reaches the dizzy heights of Pokemon GO upon its launch remains to be seen

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is c??urrently in development for iOS and Android devices.

The post Harry Potter: Wizards Unite gets trailer and 2019 release windo??w appeared first on Destructoid.

Will Mudkip jokes become relevant again?

It's been rumored (and fairly obvious) for a long while now that the third generation would be making its way to Pokémon GO. However, now it seems those rumors have come to an end with an official announcement from The Pokémon Company this morning:

“Get ready to do a lot more exploring when Pokémon GO introduces a huge update that will expand your Pokédex and change the way you play! Dozens o?f new Pokémon originally discovered in the Hoenn region will soon start appearing for the first time. You'll be able to catch Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, and many others, with even more Pokémon waiting to be discovered in the next several weeks.”

With all that said though, the new update sadly didn't give a release window outside of "soon." But, the announcement did include details on a new feature in the form of a dynamic weather system. This new syste?m will now change up the game and how you catch or battle various Pokémon depending on your current local weather, also updating the in-game map's visuals depending on the type of weather.

The new weather features are very fitting considering the third generation of games introduced weather mechanics in the mainline games. But, will you be returning to Pokémon GO to catch em' all once more, weather be damned? I can't wait to hear stories of people going out in stormy wea??ther in ?an attempt to catch a Castform and hearing the results.

Big Changes Are Coming to Pokémon GO! [The Pokémon Company]

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Gotta Catch Fantastic Beasts

The success of Pokemon Go basically means developer Niantic can tackle whatever IP they want. Since they have seemingly perfected the genre of capturing creatures, why not adapt Harry Potter into a similar experience next? Putting aside that most people don't associate Potter with monster catching??, tackling another incredibly popular series is sure to make for a massive hit.

Called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the app will be a similar AR experience to Pokemon Go that will be launching sometime next year. The official description from Niantic reads, "the game will use state-of-the-art AR mobile technology and allow players to go on adventures, learn and cast spells, discover mysterious artifacts, and encounter legendary beasts and iconic characters." It will utilize technology from Ingress, another Niantic app that had people walking around and checking into various real world locations, and be published under Warner Bros. Interactive's new Portkey Studio label (which is dedicated to creating games based on Harry Potter).

You can sign up for more information as it becomes available by heading over to the newly launched website. You can also stare at the logo for the game, because there isn't much else to go on. Niantic is promising more information in 2018, so it will still be a few months before we learn the full details. That sh??ould give you enough time to prepare for the inevitable congregation of people shouting spell names in public.

The post Niantic is?? looking to Harry Potter for its next game appeared first on Destructoid.

Thinks on the outside of a box

With the arrival of iOS 11 comes the death of a longtime favorite for millions of gamers around the world: Flappy Bird. Yes, the most fun game ever conceived and created is officially unplayable as Apple’s mobile operating system will no longer support 32-bit games or something like that. To honor its far too early death, let’s all take a moment and think back to the wonderful times we had playing Flappy Bird.

…

…

Oh, that’s right, there aren’t any. That game was dumb, we were dumb for playing it, and any developer who copied the formula and put it on the goddamn Wii U eShop is the dumbest of us all.

Good riddance to bad rubbish as well as all rubbish because who wants rubbish hanging around. iOS 11 may or may not be cutting off access to your favorite mobile game depending on how old it is and how much money it made for the developers that they would care to update it, but if your beloved has gone the way of the Dodo, the Saint Helena olive, or the rational Twitter user, may I suggest trying to find a new mobile lover in Flat Pack.

Available now on iOS and Android, Flat Pack is a 2D platformer set in a 3D dimension where you move the unnamed character -- who for the sake of this write-up I will refer to by the simple and down-to-earth name of Agamemnon -- past obstacles built into the outside of boxes, rectangl??es, and more. Aggie, as I will now call the unnamed star of this game, can only attack with their propeller which is only possible by flying into the butt of an enemy. I learned that in level two after finding out in level one that I can’t just hopa-da-bopa-d?a baddies like a certain former plumber.

Each level contains six sides of a cube that must be collected to advance, as well as a hidden star needed to unlock a secret ending. Levels are tightly compact and constantly introducing new threats to take account of. There are moving sections of each stage that can crush, arrows that can pierce, Thwomp-like blocks that move at a ballistic pace to squash, and so much more. Ags, which is what I decided Aggie would like as a nickname, died quite easily in the few hours I spent with Flat Pack but it was never a hindrance. Like a quality game sh??ould, death only made me more ambitious in my attempts to conqu?er every challenge that came Ags' and my way.

If you have already downloaded iOS 11, there is a special AR mode utilizing the OS’ ARkit. My first experience with AR was those cards included with the Nintendo 3DS. Beyond that, Pokémon Go, and the vastly superior Garfield Go, I haven't had much interest in the technology. Flat Pack rekindled my curiosity in it quite quickly.

I don't have a lot of open space at my house, so successfully completing these stages had me avoiding obsta??cles both inside and outside the game. Having to physically move my body around the level to see what is happening is a pure delight and the stages are quite fair so I didn't have instances of cruel and unavoidable deat??hs. This mode has made me really excited about what else I'll see with the ARkit in the coming years.

The controls are the only issue I have with Flat Pack. There are no dedicated buttons on the screen because the developer wanted to make this a one-thumb experience. For the most part, it succeeds. To move left or right, I swipe and hold in either direction. To jump, I tap the screen and keep tapping it if I want to fly. These actions cannot be performed concomitantly so I cannot run and jump. I can move left or right in the air only after I jum?p and begin falling back to the ground. Precise movement needed in some levels is difficult to achieve. In certain stages, faced with incredibly fast enemies and traps, it can cause quite the frustration but never enough to make me stop playing.

After thoroughly enjoying this and Cat Bird, I am all for more free-to-play mobile platformers that actually put effort into their concepts and executions. If Mario and Zelda were the titles that inspired this generation of game developers, maybe a mobile gem like Flat Pack will be one of the titles that inspire the next.

The post Flat Pac?k is cute, challenging, and currently looking for ?a home on your iPhone or Android appeared first on Destructoid.

It probably won't be as good as Garfield GO though

With the immense financial success of Pokemon GO last year, it doesn't surprise me other large properties like The Walking Dead are looking to get in on the augmented reality action with their own game The Walking Dead: Our World from developer Next Games.

Based on the popular AMC show, the game will be releasing for Android and iOS devices with no announcement as of yet for a release date. The game seems to be a location based augmented reality game. Judging from the CG trailer you'll be doing as you do in The Walking Dead -- fight o??ff zombies with a variety of weapons and bad CGI.

Considering the ei?ghth season begins airing this October, you'd assume they want the game out around then. Personally, I'll probably check it out for a brief moment while I walk my dog and then never again because I don't want to look like the people at the end of the trai??ler.

Th?e Walking Dead is getting a Pok&eac?ute;mon Go-style AR game [The Verge]

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Forget traffic!

Augmented reality has never been a perfect technology, but it definitely creates some fun scenarios. Pokémon Go is the biggest game to extensively feature the tech, but lots of modders and fans have created their own demos to showcase the possibilities. Enter Kenny W, an AR developer who has a ton of videos about Pokémon, with his newest demo based on Portal.

This demo utilizes Microsoft's HoloLens device, which isn't exactly known for its build quality. While the demo makes it look revelatory, apparently users haven't experienced anyt?hing quite like this.

As you can see from the video, the textures seem a little low quality, but the cube definitely reacts realistically. The companion cube gets thrown about in Kenny's house and even stumbles down some stairs. If only Valve would take an interest in this, we cou??ld possibly see a more polished final product for mobile devices.

I wouldn't call it a proof of concept for a game, but it would definitely be neat to fiddle around with balancing the cube on things or trying to catch a falling ball from a portal set on a skyscraper. Maybe I just want an AR gam?e that is more? involved than catching imaginary creatures.

Portal demo on HoloLens hi?ghlights augmented reality’s awes??ome potential [PC Gamer]

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Patent mentions 'real world carriers' as trade locations

Pokémon GO was one of the biggest successes of the year, and even though it'll never get back to the heights of popularity it began with, it's still getting regular updates. Niantic has said for quite a while that it's been working on some features players expect from Pokémon games, including one-on-one battles and trading.

A patent filed with the United States patent office may shed some light on how the latter function might work. It ??details a "System and method for transporting virtual objects in a parallel reality game." The patent was filed in March of 2015 by Niantic found??????????????????????????er John Hanke and several other Google employees, prior to the spinoff that created Niantic. 

The patent mentions that transporting virtual objects through the virtual world can be linked to the location of "real world carriers," for example buses, airplanes, trains, ferries and the like. In the example given, the patent says that "a player can transfer a virtual object to the virtual counterpart of a real world carrier in a first location. The real world carrier can then travel from the first location to a second location and the virtual?? object can be transported through the virtual world based upon data associated with the location of the real world carrier. The second player can then receive transfer of the virtual object at the destination." The patent theorizes that the transportation could be linked to the timetable these real world carriers follow, so if a bus is delayed, that might slow down the transfer of the virtual item.

PatentYogi.com was the website that first dug the?? information out of the patent database, and they made a short video showing what they think Pokémon transfers using this method might look like:

It sounds like this may be the way Pokémon GO handles trading in a future update. You may need to visit a bus stop, airport or train station to initiate a trade with another player, and if your trade is accepted, it could take some time to process, based on the real-world movements of a public transport. None of this will necessarily make it into Pokémon GO, but Niantic does h??old the patent, so it's not out ??of the question.

Pokemon Trading in Real Life [PatentYogi.com]

The post Rumor: Pok??emon Go may use virtual trains and buses to trade creatures appeared first on Destructoid.

Woorld is free, but the phone it runs on sure isn't

Most of us won't be able to try Woorld yet given its limite?d platform availability, but Funomena's new toybox mobile game looks cute in the ways? you'd expect from a Keita Takahashi project.

It leans on Google's augmented reality technology Tango to place trinkets and characters in your real-world surroundings, and if you play your cards right, they might just compliment your ceiling. "You will be able to find Pyramid, UFO, Toilet, and other import items," says Takahashi in this demonstration. "And when you achieve the goal which we can??????????????????????????'t talk about yet, sandbox mode will be unlocked."

The first Tango phone for consumers, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, is a steep $500, but wider-spread adoption will come with time as new phones employ this depth-sensing solution. Meanwhile, I'm still wondering what's up with Wattam, Funomena's similarly goof??y sandbox game for PlayStation 4.

Funomena [Twitter]

The post The mind behind Katamari m?ade a fancy ?new augmented reality game appeared first on Destructoid.

Gotta fap to 'em all

Pokemon Go, absent other big releases and cashing in on the ennui-staving nostalgia of the 25-to-35-year-old demographic, has blown up to be this month's Overwatch, albeit with 20 years of brand recognition behind it. Naturally more people are looking for Pokemon porn, too.

It's not the rapid 817% rise that Overwatch saw around beta time. But "Pornhub," which I am told is one of many webpages that offer a portal to adult video entertainment, is reporting that "Pokemon" searches on the webpage are up 136% since Pokemon Go's July 6 release. They've also made the most disgusting photoshop I've? ever seen of an unnerved Pikachu pulling pud. That number swells when you isolate demographics, though. Sure, men are 62% more likely to? look for Pokeporn than women, and Android users are 51% more likely.

Things get really turgid with the 18-to-24-year-old demographic, though. Pokemon porn searches among the group are up 336%. Given the Gardevoir fas??cination on this webpa??ge, I was figuring these searches were all some of y'all.

However! Pokemon porn searches are proportionately more popular throughout Central and South America -- Bolivia is tops. Latin America does love its anime. You may remember that the Overwatch porn was huge in South Korea, Belarus, Russia, and Poland. America prefers more wholesome porn searches like "teen" and "step mom."

Twitter's ZhugeEX ?also noted over the weekend that "pokemon go" has surpassed?? "porn" on Google.

Enjoy, horn dogs! Also, remember?

Pokemon Porn Searches [PHI]

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'We apologize for the inconvenience'

Just hou??rs before they’re due to be sent out, pre-orders for HTC’s Vive are being inexplicably cancelled.

Pre-orders sold out within minutes of going live, but now it seems even those lucky enough to have snagged the VR hardwa?re are not necessarily guaranteed delivery.

According to VG24/7, over the last few days some pre-or??derers have received notif?ication emails informing them their orders have been cancelled. 

A reddit thread full of unhappy customers intimates that the issue may lie with banks not authorising payment, but that’s certainly not the case for all. And depending on which support team member customers speak to, some are being told their order is cancelled, others? are told it can be honoured, and some are having their orders pushed back to the second wave of shipments next month.

HTC has issued the following statement on its blog:

While fulfilling this week’s orders for HTC Vive, a limited number of individuals were affected by auto cancella??tions due to processing issues with financial institutions. We’re actively working to resolve this, and have already reinstated orders for some customers.

We want to assure our customers that we’ll work with them to process their payment so they can receive their Vive when they were expecting it.&n?bsp; If you pre-ordered a Vive, we encourage you to contact your financial institution to notify them of upcoming charges.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

It has also tweet?ed to remind customers to notify their banks ??of the impending payment.

The first wave of Vive units are?? expected to ship on April 5, ??2016. 

Have you been aff?ected? Get in touch and let us know what’s the latest with your? order. If you have any questions regarding the status of your order, you can reach HTC at&nbs??p;+1 888-216-4736 or online at //www.htcvive.com/support.

The post Has your pre-order for HTC’s Vive been inexplicably cancelled? appeared first on Destructoid.

Monsters in your pocket

While not an official Star Wars product, special effects legend Phil Tippett's (A New Hope, RoboCop, Jurassic Park, The Force Awakens) upcoming AR/VR card-and-video game HoloGrid: Monster Battle will definitely resonate with a lot of Star Wars fans. Since the Holochess concept seen in A New Hope and The Force Awakens was in-part Tippett's creation, I think it's more than fair for him to take the concept on the road at this point, more than 40 years after its initial inception. According to Mike Lavine of Happy Giant, co-developers of HoloGrid, "The tech has finally caught up to the point where this game can?? be made," explaining the wa?it.

The plan is for HoloGrid to use a process called Phototelemetry to scan Tippett's actual monster sculptures into polygon-based models, to be projected in three dimensions using AR or VR. Each monster will get its own physical AR card, with battles taking place on an set board, for an experience less like chess and more like Card Wars from the episode of Adventure Time of the same name. 

We'll be hearing more from Tippett about HoloGrid and its terrifying bio-monsters soon enough, hopefully on an upcoming episode of Sup Ho??l??mes.

The post Star Wars holochess co-creator brings concept to reality with Ho?loGr??id appeared first on Destructoid.

Over hyped?

The first ever footage of Pokémon Go was revealed at SXSW by John Hanke, CEO of ??Niantic, the developer of the game.

This early first glimpse leaves much to be desired, as the graphics and gameplay seem rather dull. What happened to using your Pokémon to battle other wild creatures like shown in the announcement trailer? Instead, it looks like you just toss balls at Pokémon faces until they are finally caught.

I'll still give Pokémon Go a chance when it releases later this year on mobile devices, but my hype has been all bu??t destroyed.

The post First Pokemon Go foot?age revealed, looks not great appeared first on Destructoid.

In terms of 'high-end quality,' not market feasability

At its $600 launch price,???? the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset from Facebook (hah) will cost more than the PlayStation 4 console did at launch -- and that's without the expensive computer needed to take advantage of the Rift.

In a lengthy Polygon piece about PlayStation VR, Sony Computer Ent?ertainment vice president Masayasu Ito said, "If you just talk about the high-end quality, yes, I would admit that Oculus may have better VR.

"However, it requires a very expensive and very fast PC. The biggest advantage fo??r Sony is our headset works with PS4. It's more for everyday use, so it has to be easy to use and it has to be affordable. This is not for the person who uses a high-end PC. It's for the mass market."

It's more akin to Sony saying "yeah, PS4 ain't doing 4K, buy a PC if you're hankering" than the company waving any sort of white flag before it even gets out the gate -- or announces a price. But I can't imagine it comes close to the Rift's $600 price tag, let alone that of the god damn $800 Vive. Adoption (and software driving further adoption) will be paramount in getting VR off the ground in the next couple of years. The cheap so?lution might end up being the smart money if all the "VR is the future" soothsaying has even an ounce of truth.

The making of PlayStation VR [Polygon]

The post Sony admits Oculus Rift ‘may have better VR’ appeared first on Destructoid.

They may 'hurt themselves and others'

PlayStation?? VR should not be used by children under 12, according to a recent update to the PlayStation 4’s health and safety notices.

Redditer KGizzly (via Engadget) spotted the notice had been?? added as part of the 3.5 fireware update.

Vive, while not carrying an explicit age restriction, suggests the product is “not designed to be used by children” and requests that owners “do not leave the product within the reach of young children or allow them to use of play with it” because? “they can hurt themselves or others.”

The Oculus Rift also restricts use by children under 13 and recommends adult supervision for children aged 13+. It also warns that the product may “negatively impact hand-eye coordination, balance, and multi-tasking ability” so remember that the next time sometimes accuses you of ?being drunk.

The post PlayStatio?n VR has different age restrictions than Oculus ?Rift appeared first on Destructoid.

But EA is not looking at VR just yet

There are 60 million PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles out in the wild, according to?? EA’s CFO Blake Jorgensen. 

That’s five million more than his estimate of 55 million given at the end of last?? year.

Talking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference (via Gamespot), during a presentation about Vi?rtual Reality, Jorgensen explained that EA wasn’t jumping on the?? VR bandwagon as the tech was still unproven. 

Until demand for VR grows to rival the “large” console market (that’s 60 million current-gen consoles?? and 150 million+ last-gen units), EA would not consid??er investing the $50-$100 million needed to build a full VR game, even though it had consolidated its game engine and development processes to streamline production. 

That said, he did suggest that the publisher was working on smaller “vignette” VR games, but d??id not expand on what th?ese were. 

He did, however, confirm that despite some variance by bandwidth ??speeds and where pe??ople are in the world, 25 percent of EA sales are now full-game downloads, up from 20 percent disclosed by the company last November. 

"We want the consumer to decide," said Jorgensen. "We have great retailer partners; we want to continue to maintain those great retail partners. And they perform a lot of discovery and marketing services fo??r us. We believe there is a world where the retail partners are always going to be around.”

"But a?lso a lot of consumers, just like music and books and movies and TV have adopted the way to download digitally is ultimately the way of the future. We try to make sure we're available in any place where people want to buy and consume games."

What do you think, fair reader?

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Microsoft once again trots out Conker's corpse

Here is a claim made in the video for Young Conker, one of the three pieces of software that comes with Microsoft's $3,000 HoloLens (that's development kit prices, not necessar??ily for public consumption, come its ?March 30 release): "Conker's a much beloved property that has a huge following."

Here is my counterpoint: No, that's not true.

More people are probably familiar with Gex than with Conker and the foul-mouthed rodent hasn't even starred in a game in 15 years (or 10, with the Xbox remake; 1 if you count that Project Spark...thing).

But I don't think Microsoft is selling reality along with its $3,000 hat. It's just hilarious the tone of this video, which stylistically apes, say, a Pixar behind the scenes. I actually laughed in the first 20 seconds with the "Wait a minute, how do you know that's a couch" line cutting to a title card? and upbeat music like we're supposed to be impressed by goofy-ass augmented reality tech.

Or like we're supposed to be impressed with this weird corpse of Conker -- a dated, one-game-wonder mascot character -- Microsoft trots out anytime it needs to sell some dumb idea or remembers it owns Rare. It doesn't even look like Conker. And good lord, I get Muppet Babies or Tiny Toons or even Scrappy fucking Doo, but how unearned is "Young Conker," conceptually? No one real?ly wants another Conker, let alone a spin off. Just make a new cute mascot if you must.

This doe?sn't even look like Conker anyways. Everything about this feels like something Conker would actively mock. On the other hand, if I ever get my hands on a?? HoloLens and some free time, it will be funny (and appropriately juvenile) to watch Young Conker platform his way over anal beads and nipple clamps at a sex shop.

The post Wait a minute, how’s Young Conker know that’s a couch? appeared first on Destructoid.

Devs need $3,000 for the kit and three games

?Pre-order??s for Microsoft’s HoloLens dev kit open today.

The augmented reality kit will set you back $3,000 and ship on March 30 with three games: Young Conker, Fragments and RoboRaid. 

The development kit?? will also include an “enhanced” Skype app as well as a selection of other non-gaming content. 

Details were available via an official post on Fortune, but the article has since been pulled. Thankfully, a redditer snagged it before it disappeared. 

Fragments, a crime drama developed by Asobo Studios, tasks you with collection clues and solving mysteries by int??eracting “directly&rdqu??o; with the characters.

Microsoft VP Kudo Tsunoda said: “As a holographic platform highlight, Fragments ??demonstrates ho?w creators can build characters and storylines that drive a higher level of emotional engagement and attachment than you can with any other medium.”

“Fragments blends the line between the digital world and the real world more than any other experience we built. When your living room has been used as the set for a story, it generates memories for you of what digitally happened in your space like it was real. It is an experience th??at bridges the uncanny valley of your mind and delivers a new form of storytelli??ng like never before.” 

Talking about Young Conker, he added: “It is amazing how different the play experience feels based on playing the game in your living room versus your kitchen or your bedroom. Even starting the game from a dif??ferent position in a single room creates an entirel?y new gameplay dynamic.”

As for RoboRaid? That was the mechtastic ??demo we saw previewed at E3 last year.

It’ll b?e some time before we see the equivalent kit details for consumers. Until then, let us know what you think of what we know so far…

Microsoft HoloLens dev kit costs $3,000, come??s with Young C??onker and more [VG24/7]

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The augmented reality headset needs software support for lasting appeal

Microsoft is taking its sweet ass time with HoloLens by design, says creator Alex Kipman.

Speaking at a TED talk in Vancouve?r, Kipman explained that while the device is consumer ready, Microsoft wants folks to have something to do with the thing?? before rushing to market.

The company's reason for this is, it wants to avoid repeating its mistakes with Kinect. Despit??e strong initial sales (10 million u??nits in two months), public interest in the motion controller cratered shortly after release, in part, because there was hardly any software to support it.

"It was not a pleasant experience,&rdquo??; Kipman said, asserting th?e Kinect "was just not ready."

Kipman says Microsoft hopes HoloLens can escape suffering the same fate as Kinect by waiting for cont?ent creators to catch up with the hardware, thereby ensuring lasting ?use. 

"If a consumer bought [HoloLens] today, they would have 12?? things to do with it," Kipman explained. "And they would say 'Cool, I bought a $3,000 product [Note: That's the price of a development kit, not a final MSRP.] that I can do 12 things with and now it is collecting dust."

Kipman is in no rush. "When I feel the world is ready, then we will allow normal people to bu??y it," he said. "It could be as soon as we say ‘yes,’ and it could be as long as a ‘very long time??."

Burned by Kinect’s fizzle, Microsoft is taking its time with ??HoloLens [Recode]

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I want Gengar... or do I?

_{[Delightfully horrific illustration by Junji Ito]}

The world is ready for Pokémon Go, but is Pokémon Go ready for us? We haven't heard much out of the augmented-reality, location-based mobile game since its unveiling last September. As far as I know, it's still targeting a release lat??er this year on iPhone and Android.

Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke has signed?? on to speak about the title in March at the Game Developers Conference. Unless something else pops up, that's wh?en we'll get our next peek.

According to the session description, "Attendees will get a first-hand, in-depth look at how players are interacting and exploring the world with one another through Pokémon Go, the collaborative approach to design and development for the game, and the next evolution of augmented reality and real-world mobile gameplay experiences." The exact date and t?ime are to be announced.

I hope the game isn't too far off. Think you'll spring for the wrist-based device?

Catch 'Em All: Pokemon GO and Real World Gaming [GDC]

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Placeholder price or not? You decide!

The PlayStation VR has been listed o??n three Swiss websites for sale around €450-€500.

That’s roughly £342-£380, or $435-$544, depending upon where you are in ?the world.

Sony has yet to formally confirm the retail cost of its VR system, and it remains unclear where the three retailers concerned received this price-point, which was shared on NeoGAF earlier today??. Consequently, treat this information with due caution - there’s every chance these are just placeholders right now, k?

What kind of price would Sony have to hit to interest you in buying the new kit at launch?

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Lucky for some

Oculus Rift boss Palmer Luckey has apologised for suggesting that the VR product would cost “in the ballpar?k” of $350, admitting that he “han??dled the messaging poorly.”

Responding to comments on a lengthy reddit AMA thread from commenters who suggested early reports of a $350 pricetag were misleading, Luckey said “to be perfectly honest, our biggest failing was assuming we had been clear enough ??about setting expectations?”..

“As an explanation, not an excuse: during that time, many outlets were repeating the ‘Rift is $1500!’ line, and I was frustrated by how many people thought that was the price of the headset itself. My answer was ill-prepared, and men??tally, I was contrasting $349 with $1500, not our internal estimate that hovered close to $599 – that is why I said it was in roughly the same ballpark.”

“Another problem is that people looked at the much less advanced technology in DK2 for $350 and assumed the consumer R?ift would cost a similar amount, an assumption that myself (and Oculus) did not do a good job of fixing. I apologize.”

So just wh?y will the? retail unit cost so much more than originally anticipated?

“Shipping a real consumer product is more complex than janking out a dev kit, even something nearly identical to DK2 would have ended up costing $400+, and the all-i??n investment including a PC would still be around $1300, not enough to make the jump from enthusiast to mainstream.”

“DK1 and DK2 cost a lot less – they used mostly off the shelf components,” Luckey added. “They also had significantly fewer features (back of head tracking, headphones, mic, removal facial interfaces, etc.) For Rift, we’re using largely custom VR technology (eg. custom displays designed for VR) to push the expe?rience well beyond DK2 to the Crescent Bay level.”

“We could have shipped something along the lines of?? DK2?, but I really don’t think it would have been good enough to kickstart the consumer VR industry, especially in the long run.”

Although Luckey insists the Rift is sold at cost price and not for a profit, he did a?cknowledge that the accompanying hardware was expensive. 

“The core technology in the Rift is the main driver – two built-fo??r-VR OLED displays with very high refresh rate and pixel density, a very precise tracking system, mechanical adjustment systems that must be lightweight, durable, and precise, and cutting-edge optics that are more complex to manufacture than many high end ??DSLR lenses.

“It is expensive, but for the $599 you spend, you get a lot more than spending $599 on pretty much any other consumer electronics devices – phones that? cost $599 cost a fraction of that to make, same with mid-range TVs that cost $599. There are a lot of mainstream devices in that price-range, so as you have said, our failing was in communication, not just price.”

“For the average person, the PC is by far the biggest cost, not the headset – the end goal is to make sure people can use the PC they ??already have ??in most cases,” he added.

Looks like the price h??asn’t made much ?of a dent on pre-orders -- all initial "day one" stock has been claimed, apparently selling out in 14 minutes. Fur??ther units for sale are now pushed?? back to May 2016.

For more information check out the full AMA and, as always, let us know what you think about the price --? and Luckey’s subsequent comment??s -- below!

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Well, I'd hope so...

Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Google have come together to throw a combined $30 million at San Francisco-based Niantic, developer of the recently announced Pokémon Go. Niantic started as an internal Google t?eam and obviously Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, who've allowed Niantic to use the property, is on board. The funding includes $20 million upfront and "$10 million conditioned upon achieving certain milestones."

Pokémon Company president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara stated, "The Pokémon Comp??any is committed to partnering with companies like Niantic that share the same spirit of community and innovation."

Pokémon Go was announced last month with a trailer (above) that seemed to capture everyone's imagination for a real-life Pokémon world, even if the actual execution is? going to be much less fantastica?l. It is coming to Android and iOS sometime in 2016.

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Expected to release December 2017

Steven Spielberg will be directing Ready Player One, a movie based upon the novel of the same name.

The sci-fi film is expected to re??lease on December 15, 20?17.

The story contains references to a butt-tonne of Spielberg own films, including Indiana Jones, The Goonies, and Back to the Future, but although he says it's "very trippy" to be making a film about his films, he's "not making this movie to remind people of m?y ‘80s movies. I may lea??ve most of them out!”

Spielberg describes the book itself as "crystal ball into ex??actly what is going to be happening not in 30 or 40 years, but in between five and ten years from now, where a virtual world becomes almost like a drug of choice and where we are spending more time in a nonorganic space than we are breathing and eating and interacting in rea??l life."

“This movie is going to show why it’s interesting not living in the real world but what we’re missing by not,” Spielberg adds. “It’s a cautionary tale but it’s also a big rockin’ adventure?? movie, too.”

I'd end o?n a joke but just look at that cover picture, you guys. BE STILL MAH HEART.

Steven Spielberg is ready for 'Player One' [USA Today, via VideoGamer]

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Shipping Q1 2016

I remember hearing chatter that Microsoft's augmented-reality headset, HoloLens, would cost significantly more than an Xbox One. While we probably won't know the exact price tag for quite a while, the company has begun taking applications for a Development Edition of the device.

What's the damage? $3,000.

Developers in the United States and Canada can sign up now for the chance to buy this early HoloLens kit (up to two per application) in January. The dev??ices will begin ship??ping in Q1 2016.

"As soon as additional devices are available, more accepted applicants will be invited to purchase," but "invitations may not arrive in the orde??r in ?which applications were received."

Earlier today, Microsoft also demonstrated a HoloLens tech demo, Project X-Ray, at its Windows 10 devices event. Looks like a novel experience that would lose it??s appeal before long.

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An on-going Pokemon map of San Francisco

Forget the open-world Pokémon console RPG with wild pocket monsters represented on-screen instead of in random encounters. Nintendo just went and leap frogged all of us by partnering with a mobile company to bring Pokémon into real life.

The pitch perfect announcement trailer belies our lack of knowledge with respect to how Pokémon Go will actually look and function as a real-life application, but it does capture the exploratory, simple-times wonder of walking around a world with fantastical potential pets that you don't get arrested for keeping and they don't keep scratching at the fucking carpet.

The "augmented reality" Pokémon Go uses location technology to give you Pokémon to catch based on things like geography. Lapras in the ocean, and all that. You can even stumble across wild battles? between monsters, apparently.

I've lived in San Francisco all my life which, I assume, isn't the case for most of the people working at San Francisco-based Pokémon Go developer Niantic, so I'm definitely a leading autho??rity and expert on which fictional creatures would inhabit certain areas. W??hat started as a quick, fun Friday afternoon post has turned into a stupid, slightly more complicated project as I paste sprites onto a map. I may continue to update this and fill out all of San Francisco, probably when I get back from Tokyo.

Please chip in with l?ocal knowledge of you??r respective hoods.

Excelsior

I've lived a couple different places in Excelsior, including my current digs. You'll find savvy Sneasels and Scythers scurrying through the fragrant wild fennel fenced off alongside the sloping freeway underpasses on your way up to the relative wilds ??of Glen Park. Murkrows dot power lines along Geneva and Mission.

Ekans occ?asionally slither down from their dry McLaren plains into the European-named streets below. The Meowths, too, will come down and brave the streets to swipe coins, while a more timid crew stays completely up in the hills. Exeggutors wander Mission freely while Machokes are hard at work.

Noe Valley

Wandering Magnemites have bee??n spotted in increasing numbers in this region. They are mostly noctur??nal and drain the batteries of residents' Teslas. Eevee, of course, are prized in Noe Valley, including its fashionable evolutions brought about by precious-gem-owning old money. Except Jolteon. Fuck Jolteon. Wandering Trubbish and Garbodor, abandoned in Dolores Park by transplants and tech assholes, have been spotted wandering into outlying regions such as Noe Valley, but only the latter employs underpaid Quagsire to wash the trash Pokemon downhill into the Mission.

Fort Funston

San Francisco's beaches are typically cold and free of the Southern California, bathing suit clad beaches people often associate with the state. The lesser known Fort Funston, south of the creatively named Ocean Beach, is a haven for owners of dog Pokémon like Growlithe and Arcanine, which are allowed to run freely amid the wild Sandshrews and San?diles burrowed in the beach. The dogs are free to chase Wingull up and down, sniff the occasional washed up, dead Krabby, and sometimes roll around in Sealeo corpses, covering themselves in disgusting, rotting viscera.

Beware if you bring your smaller pup Pokémon as assholes nearby (the country club?) occasionally rise their Rapidashes down onto the beach, threatening the safety of all dogs in this typical haven. Plus they shit everywhere and do those prissy fucks get off their high horse to pick it up, like the responsible dog owners? Of course not.

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AR game from San Francisco startup

Today at a press event in Tokyo, The Pokémon Company announced Pokémon Go, an upcoming smartphone game being made by Ingress developer Niantic, a startup based out of San Francisco that was founded in 2010 as an internal team at Google before recently gaining ind?ependence.

Pokémon Go is an augmented-reality game that aims to harness location-based tech??nology to allow players to interact and catch Pokémon in settings based o??n their real-life surroundings.

Speaking during the event, Shigeru Miyamoto likened the game to Pokémon Snap, say??ing the developers hope to gi?ve players a similar feeling of living alongside Pokémon in the world.

The title will be launching with an optional wearable device called "Pokémon Go Plus," which will use a Bluetooth connection and vibration t?o alert players ??when actions are available, such as notifications for when a Pokémon appears in the wild and can be caught.

Part of the advertised appeal of this is to make people more aware of the world around t??hem while still playing a ga?me, rather than constantly being forced to have one's face buried in a screen.

Pokémon Go is planned for a 2016 release on iPhon?e and Android.

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