{"id":86638,"date":"2016-03-01T11:13:30","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T09:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=86638"},"modified":"2016-03-01T11:16:02","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T09:16:02","slug":"hololens-development-edition-pre-orders-are-coming-in-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/86638-hololens-development-edition-pre-orders-are-coming-in-fast","title":{"rendered":"HoloLens Development Edition pre-orders are coming in fast"},"content":{"rendered":"

While VR may be all the rage nowadays, particularly on PC and consoles<\/a>, we see a whole lot of potential in augmented reality (AR) technology.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s HoloLens<\/a>, an AR headset, is one of these devices.<\/p>\n

Since yesterday, the 29th<\/sup> of February, Microsoft has begun taking pre-orders for the HoloLens Development Edition at the very expensive price of $3,000 (R47,000) per unit.<\/p>\n

This edition of the HoloLens officially launches on the 30th<\/sup> of March. The release is all part of a roll-out for businesses and developers.<\/p>\n

Microsoft will provide tutorials, documentation and information to companies so that they can develop apps and games with AR in mind.<\/p>\n

For game developers, the Development Edition will include three playable HoloLens games developed by Microsoft. The three games in question are Fragments<\/em>, Young Conker<\/em>, and RoboRaid<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These games will showcase the gaming applications and capabilities of augmented reality. This is relevant to game developers who will be the obvious early adopters of the HoloLens.<\/p>\n

With the release of the Development Edition, Microsoft aims to create a software ecosystem within which they can sell future versions of the HoloLens to regular consumers.<\/p>\n

One of the first games that comes with this version of the HoloLens is Fragments<\/em>. The game situates you in an AR crime drama.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be able to investigate crimes, find clues and eventually solve said crimes through character interactions. The game promises a higher level of emotional engagement that will blur the line between the digital and real world.<\/p>\n

The second game that is bundled with the HoloLens is Young Conker,<\/em> taking Rare\u2019s popular squirrel character away from his platforming roots.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a><\/p>\n

Conker makes his way into the real world in this game. The gameplay experience with Young Conker<\/em> changes depending on the environment you find yourself in.<\/p>\n

This means every player has a unique gameplay experience, since every person\u2019s real world environment differs drastically.<\/p>\n

The final game that makes the overall package is RoboRaid<\/em>. Previously known as Project X-Ray<\/em>, RoboRaid <\/em>is a first-person shooter that has you fighting off alien invaders.<\/p>\n

In the game, you use a device called a Clicker to shoot at waves of enemies as they fly into your room shooting lasers.<\/p>\n

RoboRaid <\/em>is an interesting game because it makes use of spatial sounds as part of its gameplay design and alerts you to the direction enemies are attacking from.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, RoboRaid<\/em> was created by eight people over just 12 weeks.<\/p>\n

There will be non-gaming apps included with the HoloLens as well. One of these apps is HoloStudio<\/em> that is used to design 3D environments, objects and characters in actual 3D.<\/p>\n

HoloStudio <\/em>also teaches developers how to use the HoloLens\u2019s interaction model. The model is made up of gaze, gesture, and voice inputs. These can be used within games and applications.<\/p>\n

The Development Edition will run an enhanced version of Skype<\/em>, which will allow people using Skype<\/em> on Windows devices to communicate and interact within a holographic environment.<\/p>\n

In this regard, Skype<\/em> could perhaps revolutionise how we communicate through the added benefit of augmented reality.<\/p>\n

The final non-gaming app included is HoloTour <\/em>which gives users 360-degree panoramic views of international destinations. For example, you can walk around the city of Rome in glorious 3D visuals and sound.<\/p>\n

With all this awesome content coming bundled with the HoloLens, AR is definitely something to be excited for.<\/p>\n

Seeing games like Minecraft <\/em>be taken to the next level with the HoloLens gives us hope that AR could have a much bigger impact on gaming.<\/p>\n

It will be very interesting to see what type of games come out upon the release of Microsoft\u2019s HoloLens Development Edition.<\/p>\n

Share your thoughts with us below in the comments and forum.<\/p>\n

\n

Source:\u00a0 <\/strong>Fortune<\/a><\/h4>\n

More On Microsoft\u2019s HoloLens<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Xbox One games coming to\u00a0HoloLens<\/a><\/p>\n

AMD believes console VR is good for the PC<\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s E3 2015 Press Conference Highlights<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a R47,000 price tag, the HoloLens brings AR to developers at a high cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":86642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17402,833,13274,91,1969,13009],"class_list":["post-86638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-ar","tag-augmented-reality","tag-hololens","tag-microsoft","tag-news-2","tag-windows-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}