Augmented reality isn’t just webcams and smartphones (or really weird haptic floors.)  Sometimes they’re windows into other places like this Winscape.  While the name is unimaginative and makes you think it’s a Microsoft product, the idea is spectacular (albeit for only one person.)

Using an iPod, a Wii remote, and some other gadgetry (see this video for the how-to), the setup gives you a window into another place.  We’re not talking a fireplace on your TV, but an interactive illusion.  The views they choose were pretty mundane.

Though if I’m going to take the time to set all this equipment up in my living room and carry an iPod around my neck all the time, I want a panoramic view of a distant planet like Mars or the bottom of the ocean.  Or give me a mock-up of my favorite science fiction and fantasy novels.  What LARP’er wouldn’t want to have a window that looks out of Minas Tirith?

The makers of this call it Situational Telepresence.  I’d call it a ‘window into another world.’

Mark Pine, the keynote speaker from Disney Imagineering at ISMAR09, gave the audience compelling reasons why truly interactive experiences are the future of entertainment and the one I remember most was: “It’s about connecting with the user.”

Total Immersion has recently partnered with Hanwa Co. (Japan) to create a live action augmented reality video game that connects with the user in much the same way that Mark from Disney had displayed.  Unlike the projection based AR system that Disney used, Total Immersion have their guests wear a backpack and wield a video gun to hunt ghosts in the fully explorable house earning points as they capture them.   

“We’re demonstrating the magical ability of augmented reality to capture visitors’ attention and imagination,” said Bruno Uzzan, CEO, Total Immersion. “Guests experience real time interaction with augmented reality content — and are pulled into real life videogame, dynamically.”

More pictures can be seen on Total Immersion’s blog about AR and they recently uploaded this video to YouTube. 

Total Immersion reports a high revisit rate with teens and gamers which bodes well for AR driven entertainment.  Their AR entertainment experience makes me realize that the first real augmented reality HMDs won’t be bought by consumers, but instead will be used in malls and other family entertainment centers to create immersive gaming experiences like this ghost hunt. 

As the technology becomes more robust with occlusion, better graphics, and faster tracking; the complexity of the games will grow.  It’s not hard to imagine AR games like the one’s described in Larry Niven’s Dream Park taking over the laser tag centers in your local mall.  We just won’t tell the kids that they’re really LARPing.

Seeing this concept video made me sad that the Vuzix Wrap920 won’t see be see-through.   This is the type of kinetic AR gaming that I’d love to play even in this simple form. 

I’m sure such games would evolve to make even LARP’ers cringe, fracturing down to thousands of strange fetishes played out in obscure games, but that’s not so different than the current gaming market with hundreds of sub-genres.

As Noah points out in his scoop about the Vuzix news, we need a company to step up and deliver us a a good AR-enabled HMD, because I’m ready to play.