This article was 1st published on our sister Site, Digital World Native
Wanna turn your smartphone into a light saber from Star Wars? Well, here’s your chance. In a move “inspired” by the new movie, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, Google has found a rather unusual way to promote the movie. Using tech, it is able to convert your smartphone into a virtual light saber. Your phone, oh sorry, saber, can then work in tandem with practically any desktop browser, allowing you to embark on a fun-filled, immersive adventure game by fighting off laser-gun wielding Storm Troopers in the ‘Lightsaber Escape’, adventure. Hey, presto, you are now part of the Star Wars lore.
The Disney/LucasFilm movie, which is being heavily promoted across all known media channels, has ventured into unchartered territory with this innovative, immersive adventure game. Disney has partnered with Industrial Light & Magic & Google to put together this game, which uses the browser in any Android or iPhone device & a desktop browser (Windows, Mac OS or Chrome OS). The communication between the phone & the PC is really snappy, & in real time via a WiFi or 3G-4G connection, using WebRTC & WebSockets.
How to install
To “install” the game, you need to head on to lightsaber.withgoogle.com/experience with your desktop browser (preferably Chrome, but Google supports other browsers as well), which then prompts you to introduce a unique URL into your smartphone. The two browsers pair up and proceed to “calibrate” the light saber. The desktop browser then renders an immersive 3D environment, initially with laser-blasting storm troopers shooting at you. At this point you’re on your own as you use the phone/light saber to ward off enemy shots. You basically keep running into enemy troopers and try to exit the Empire Star Destroyer in which the action has been taking place.
This game is part of a series of ‘Chrome Experiments’ (chromeexperiments.com), in which Google showcases mainly Mobile & WebGL technologies. These last, of which Lightsaber Escape is an example, feature accelerated 3D graphics, embedded in the browser & without the use of plugins or the need for installing additional software.
Just remember to switch off your light saber before you take the next call on your phone.
And may the force be with you.
Image Credit: Google
•Share This•
