Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality glasses are getting some love with a new demo of a developer showing off a concept for HoloLens support in Final Fantasy XIV. That’s 2010 MMORPG FFXIV, mind you, not the more recent Final Fantasy XV.
The video, tweeted by a user named @tanufuku, shows the game’s many peripheral menus, like maps and inventory, relegated to cyberspace all around a laptop’s screen. The laptop itself is dedicated entirely to showing the actual game, while all extraneous menus are banished to HoloLens view. A user wearing the headset would be able to focus on gameplay when they want, then simply move their head to view the space around their monitor or laptop screen to manage inventory, check stats and more.
HoloLens専用ゲームも楽しいけど、既存のゲームをHoloLens対応にしても面白いんじゃないかなーと思ってFF14で雰囲気だけ試してみた。UI系を画面の外に置くことで、よりゲームに没頭しやすくなるんじゃないかな？狭い画面でも広く使えそう。#HoloLens #FF14 pic.twitter.com/pjTrg0T2Z4
— たぬ福 (@tanufuku) February 5, 2017
Translated by Google, tanufuku’s tweet says something like “I enjoy HoloLens exclusive games, but I tried the atmosphere with FF14 thinking it would be interesting to make existing games compatible with HoloLens. By placing the UI system outside the screen, will it become easier for you to become more immersed in the game?”
Without more context it’s hard to know whether they’ve actually modded Final Fantasy XIV to make it compatible with HoloLens, or if this is simply a concept video from a wishful player. Either way it certainly shows the potential for augmented reality as a second-screen experience where less crucial information is displayed around the edges of your vision, although with HoloLens’s extremely narrow field of view this would require a lot of neck movement.
This wasn’t the only demo to debut recently, as another developer showed off a version of beloved puzzle game Portal in augmented reality. The video shows the player walking around an office or apartment building creating portals and dropping a companion cube through them, all with finger motions and head movements.
