Month: November 2020

Next year, fans of Mario Kart will be able to experience the game in real life with the assistance of augmented reality. On Feb. 4, 2021, Universal Studios Japan in Osaka City will open its Super Nintendo World mini-park, which will immerse visitors in all things Mario. Don’t Miss: Nintendo Crafts AR Content for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp The main attraction of the park is “Mario Kart Bowser’s Challenge,” a rollercoaster that pulls riders through a physical replica of the villain Bowser’s castle. To add realism to the experience, riders will wear AR headsets (adorned with Mario’s familiar… more

The movie theater business is hurting due to the pandemic, but that hurdle is actually the perfect set of circumstances for movie studios to lean hard into augmented reality marketing. That’s what’s on the menu this week as Dreamworks teamed with Snapchat to launch a special Lens for the sequel to the blockbuster animated hit The Croods. • Don’t Miss: Snapchat Gives John Wick Fans the Tools to Build Their Own AR Effects via Lens Studio The Croods: A New Age, hit theaters on Friday, and in conjunction with the release, fans have been given the ability to take AR selfies with the franchise’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 highlighted Musical.ly for Mashable, just before it was snapped up by China’s Bytedance for $1 billion and merged into what is now TikTok. What isn’t often mentioned is the fact that, after Twitter dropped the Vine ball back in 2017, Snapchat was left as the lone, most prominent purveyor of sticky, addictive multimedia mobile… more

Quietly, while the rest of the world was engaged in pandemic and political concerns, a few weeks ago Facebook casually upgraded its Spark AR platform with what it calls Unified Effect Publishing. The change now enables developers to submit AR effects once for publishing to both Facebook and Instagram. On the surface, this is an improvement to be celebrated. “Now you can submit your effect once, and upon approval, publish it simultaneously across Facebook and Instagram. That’s right — one submission, one review process, and you can then publish your effect to all supported platforms in the… more

With the new season of The Mandalorian underway, Google has launched a new AR app that enables some Star Wars fans to connect with virtual characters in between new episodes. That is, as long as you have an Android smartphone. Check that…a 5G Android smartphone. Don’t Miss: The Porgs from Star Wars Are Coming to Magic Leap One Available now in the Google Play Store, the app puts the titular character in your physical environment. The app is compatible with 5G Pixel devices and other select 5G Android devices from Samsung, LG, OnePlus, Motorola/Levovo, Oppo, Sharp, Sony, and Xiomi. The… more

In this year of everything going virtual and remote, it makes even more sense now that Hollywood is leaning heavily on augmented reality. In this case, it’s HBO using AR to promote its highly-acclaimed original programming. After developing a series of AR experiences via Snapchat to promote Season 1 of His Dark Materials, HBO has tapped Yahoo to create a web-based AR campaign for the second season of the show. Don’t Miss: Magic Leap Releases Game of Thrones Experience for All Magic Leap One Users The web-based AR experience is fairly straightforward. Scan the QR code below (or just click… more

The Animal Crossing series has been a big hit for Nintendo, so in a bid to enhance the experience even more for users, the game is getting the augmented reality treatment. The latest update for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp adds two new features for iOS and Android smartphone users. Don’t Miss: What the New AR Mapping Task in Pokémon GO Means for the Future of Augmented Reality Gaming First, there’s an AR Camera that brings characters and furniture from the game into your personal space using ARKit on iOS and ARCore on Android. Once placed in your environment, you can take pictures of the… more

When Treasury Wine Estates released 19 Crimes Snoop Cali Red this summer, named for its new partner in wine, rapper Snoop Dogg, it already came with the brand’s signature AR-enhanced label. Now, with an assist from creative studio Tactic and the web-based AR platform from 8th Wall, Snoop Cali Red has a new (and, arguably, more impressive) AR experience featuring the dee-oh-double-gee. Don’t Miss: 8th Wall’s Web AR Brings Album Art of Pink Floyd to Life Like other products from Treasury Wine Estates, such as The Walking Dead and Brazen, the likeness of Snoop comes alive when scanned with the… more

Amazon has joined the ranks of film and TV studios using the power of augmented reality to engage fans looking to go behind passive screen viewing. To that end, Amazon has quietly launched the Amazon AR Player app. Don’t Miss: Snapchat Gives John Wick Fans the Tools to Build Their Own AR Effects via Lens Studio The free app, which is available on iOS and Android devices, allows users to experience a personal introduction to the furry cast of Amazon’s new streaming TV series The Pack. Hosted by Olympic gold medalist and multiple World Cup champion ski racer Lindsey Vonn, The Pack follows a… more

If you’re a man and subscribe to podcasts or YouTube channels that cater to masculine interests, then you’ve almost certainly encountered sponsorships from Manscaped. And that means I don’t have to explain what the company is selling you (for the uninitiated, it’s a company dedicated to helping you trim your body hair—most notably, your nether regions, in addition to other areas). Now, the brand has let the vines of its advertising reach grow into the augmented reality realm with a Sponsored Lens on Snapchat for iOS and Android. Don’t Miss: This Viral Instagram Augmented Reality Filter Will… more