Magic Leap is showing what it might look like to use its hardware for augmented reality gaming in the future, with a new demo of what the team is apparently “playing in the office” right now. The interface, which includes non-game interaction and then a short demo of an in-office virtual shooter experience, was created in tandem with Weta Workshop, a concept art studio responsible for work on projects like Lord of the Rings.
The brief video shows examples of interacting with YouTube and Gmail apps, along with browsing a menu system for OS-level interaction. The person in the video from whose perspective it’s apparently shot then selects a shooter game, tests out a weapon after choosing from a variety of options, does some tower-defence style stuff by placing a current and fights some visually impressive but fairly generic baddies.
The video was posted with an apology for Magic Leap’s absence at TED. The startup’s CEO Rony Abovitz was scheduled to present a talk at this year’s TED conference in Vancouver, but canceled. At the same time, an AMA with one of Magic Leap’s key game developers was also abruptly canceled.
Magic Leap has significant backing from major tech companies and entertainment industry giants, including Google and Legendary Entertainment, and that has necessarily resulted in a lot of hype.
The company isn’t saying whether the video above is pure concept, or an example of live software running on its platform (the involvement of Weta tends to suggest the former), but it did confirm to TechCrunch that it is the source of the YouTube upload. If they can make good on this kind of promise, than the initial excitement and big funding rounds will start to make a lot more sense.