Lenovo's AR Star Wars Game Trains You To Be A Jedi

Star Wars: Jedi Challenges tests your lightsaber skills and strategic prowess as you command troops.

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More and more companies are beginning to ride the immersive waves with augmented and virtual reality and enthusiasts are starting to see more recognizable brands take the leap. This time around, Lenovo is taking users to a galaxy far, far away with an augmented reality headset that exclusively runs a Star Wars experience.

The Lenovo Mirage is a mobile AR headset that comes with a beacon that requires you to throw in a couple AA batteries. For Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, which is currently the only game that works with the Mirage, you’ll download the game to your smart phone and use a lightsaber that has its own rechargeable battery.

Source: Engadget

The Mirage’s beacon is used to track your position and the game will instruct you on how to place it. Once things are set up, you’ll be able to engage in Jedi training. In their hands-on, Engadget reported that lightsaber duels weren’t the only element of this training either. You command troops on a battlefield in what feels like a tabletop strategy game and even hone your mind with some Holochess. The publication chatted with Disney’s VP of advanced development, Mike Goslin, during this experience and he expressed that, while they like VR, we think AR is very mass-market friendly. And that's what we're trying to do here.”

"We're taking the AR concept to reality," added Matt Bereda, Lenovo's VP of global consumer marketing. "We're leveraging our hardware experience and teaming it up with Disney."

This marriage of ideas is likely to be a fruitful, with Lenovo coming to the table with hardware pedigree and Disney bringing the recognizable brand for mass consumption. Initiatives like this and the upcoming Walking Dead AR game will certainly keep the immersive tech industry growing. Pokemon GO opened the door and all that's left is to walk through it.

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.

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