AR Drone RC Hovercraft, Now An Augmented Reality iPhone Game

I just love it when someone has a really cool "Augmented Reality" concept, and the guys behind AR Drone have just about the coolest yet.

Augmented reality refers to a game or app that uses some sort of real-world interface to make it appear as though you're playing the game in the real world.

Some games use a camera to take video of your surroundings, then dynamically add creatures or enemies to make it appear as though the action is happening right in front of you. Others tap into real-world factors like your GPS location or current weather conditions.

And then there's the AR Drone. You may have seen these little guys in the mall or in SkyMall Magazine on your last flight. It's a highly precise remote-control airship that, in and of itself, is a pretty cool gadget. But the company behind it sees it as more than just another RC vehicle. To it, the AR Drone is a video game platform.

The Drone actually has two built-in cameras and internal Wi-Fi connectivity. It can be controlled by a Wi-Fi-enabled iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. And now, the initial dream is coming true as the makers of the Drone are releasing a new multiplayer game for the device.

Here's how it'll work. You and your friend both send up your Drones into flight. One of you is chosen as the pursuer and the other as the pursuee. As the pursuer, you must chase down the other Drone, in real-life, but using your iPhone to control it. The camera transmits live video feeds to your iPhone screen, from which you send out virtual missiles.

The Drone you're chasing can recognize when you're on its tail, and will slow down when "hit" by a weapon. The person behing chased must shake his iPhone to stabilize the controls.

After a certain period of time, roles are reversed and the hunter becomes the hunted. The winner is the one who lasts the longest without being hit.

It's a pretty cool concept, to be sure, and at around $3 for the game it's pretty cheap. Of course, the AR Drones themselves cost about $400 each. So do iPod Touches. So, it's a total investment of $1,606 if you and a friend want to play this game. I think we'll just file this one under "neat idea" for now.



Via Tech Digest

Updates

RIM expected to announce major layoffs this week

Source: Toronto Star

With fewer and fewer people buying BlackBerry smart phones, Waterloo-based Research In Motion has apparently decided it needs fewer employees to make, design and sell them. For the second time in a year, the company is expected to ann ...
Full article at: Toronto Star  More like this  20 minutes ago

Browser wars flare in mobile space

Source: Economic Times

WASHINGTON: The browser wars are heating up again, but this time the fight is for dominance of the mobile Internet. Google, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo! are all in the struggle, along with the Norwegian-made Opera browser and the open s ...
Full article at: Economic Times  More like this  23 minutes ago

Sdasxsa

Source: Term Paper Warehouse

Mending Wall Analysis Robert Frost is often referred to as a poet of nature. Words and phrases such as fire and ice, flowers in bloom, apple orchards and rolling hills, are all important elements of Frost's work. These ‘benign' objects provide an alterna ...
Full article at: Term Paper Warehouse  More like this  24 minutes ago

Don't miss ...

news

 

Belkin LiveAction Gear for iPhone Camera Surfaces

Nov 16 2011

Activate the iPhone camera remotely

news

 

iRemoco Remote Helicopter for the Apple iPhone is now on Sale in the UK

Aug 12 2011

Crowd-funded iRemoco remote helicopter is regularly...

news

 

iOS 5 Details are Official

Jun 6 2011

iOS 5 comes this Fall with iCloud.

news

 

iCloud Details are official

Jun 6 2011

Apple iCloud is Free.

 

 

Apple

iPad mini Rumors continue

 

 

• More Apple Stories
• I4U News Homepage