The world has finally gotten a chance to see why Google invested more than US$500m in Magic Leap last October, with a sneak peak at what it’s working on “in the office”.
Apologising for not making it to TED this year, Magic Leap posted the video – showing off some pretty cool looking augmented gaming potential – on YouTube.
It shows someone walking around their office and checking through emails before a game starts.
Using the company’s proprietary human interface technology Cinematic Reality, a load of robot monster things start attacking the protagonist before some timely, explosive weaponry appears, blasting them away.
It was created with Weta Workshop, an art studio that has worked on projects including The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Hellboy.
The apology is related to Rony Abovitz, CEO of the company, pulling out of a TED talk in Vancouver, as reported by Tech Crunch.
“At the same time, an AMA with one of Magic Leap’s key game developers was also abruptly cancelled.”
Prior to starting Magic Leap Abovitz was the co-founder and head of development and technology for MAKO Surgical, a world leader in human-interactive robotics for orthopedic surgery. The company was acquired by Stryker Corp for US$1.65bn in December 2013.
Google’s investment in the company comes at quite the competitive time for both augmented and virtual reality companies. Last March Facebook spent a whopping US$2bn on Oculus Rift.
