Portal in augmented reality looks super neat

Forget traffic!

Augmented reality has never been a perfect technology, but it definitely creates some fun scenarios. Pokémon Go is the biggest game to extensively feature the tech, but lots of modders and fans have created their own demos to showcase the possibilities. Enter Kenny W, an AR developer who has a ton of videos about Pokémon, with his newest demo based on Portal.

This demo utilizes Microsoft’s HoloLens device, which isn’t exactly known for its build quality. While the demo makes it look revelatory, apparently users haven’t experienced anything quite like this.

As you can see from the video, the textures seem a little low quality, but the cube definitely reacts realistically. The companion cube gets thrown about in Kenny’s house and even stumbles down some stairs. If only Valve would take an interest in this, we could possibly see a more polished final product for mobile devices.

I wouldn’t call it a proof of concept for a game, but it would definitely be neat to fiddle around with balancing the cube on things or trying to catch a falling ball from a portal set on a skyscraper. Maybe I just want an AR game that is more involved than catching imaginary creatures.

Portal demo on HoloLens highlights augmented reality’s awesome potential [PC Gamer]