'Pokémon Go' on Microsoft HoloLens looks freakin' incredible
If you've played Pokémon Go at all (and at this point, who hasn't?), you know that one of its most compelling features is its use of augmented reality (AR). That is, when you try to snatch one of those pesky little Pokémon with a Poké Ball, the creature appears superimposed over the real world, captured in real time by your phone's camera.
It's pretty cool (and fun!) to see Pokémon running around your neighborhood, the office or even on your daily commute. However, you quickly see the limits of AR tech on smartphones: The virtual characters don't actually interact with real-life objects, your interactions with them are very limited, and you have to -- ugh -- actually hold your phone.
To solve all those problems, you'd need advanced AR hardware -- a wearable headset that frees up your hands and is loaded with sensors so the virtual Pokémon can actually interact with you and the world in more sophisticated ways. Luckily, such hardware exists in the form of Microsoft HoloLens. Even more luckily, someone has actually done the work to export the Pokémon Go experience to Microsoft's mixed-reality platform.
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David Robustelli, the head of digital for Capitola VR, posted this Twitter video showing how Pokémon Go could work on HoloLens. Using one of the device's built in gestures, the "pinch," the wearer can throw a Poké Ball at whatever virtual critters are wandering nearby. Even cooler, the balls return to the user once the Pokémon is caught.
Best of all, though, the Pokémon stay firmly positioned in the real world and can even interact with objects. In the video, a Charmander sits on a tabletop, and when the Poké Ball envelops the little guy, it bounces on the table, too.
The experience could use just a little more polish and interactivity with people and other objects, but this is an excellent first stab at taking Pokémon Go's augmented reality to the next level. If Pokémon Go developer Niantic Labs isn't already talking to these guys, it should be.
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Pete Pachal was Mashable’s Tech Editor and had been at the company from 2011 to 2019. He covered the technology industry, from self-driving cars to self-destructing smartphones.Pete has covered consumer technology in print and online for more than a decade. Originally from Edmonton, Canada, Pete first uploaded himself into technology journalism at Sound & Vision magazine in 1999. Pete also served as Technology Editor at Syfy, creating the channel's technology site, DVICE (now Blastr), out of some rusty HTML code and a decompiled coat hanger. He then moved on to PCMag, where he served as the site's News Director.Pete has been featured on Fox News, the Today Show, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC and CBC.Pete holds degrees in journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax and engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. His favorite Doctor Who monsters are the Cybermen.
