ARPost has been following Nreal for a while now, and they just shared a gem that we can’t wait to pass on.
The release included several layers of content – some for general users and some for developers. We’ll start with the general public announcements and finish on the developer notes.
Let’s dive in.
Web XR Support
WebXR, the ability to host XR experiences on websites, will be supported by Nreal.
WebXR is a big deal for developers because it allows them to have XR experiences without developing apps or going through the process of hosting XR experiences on social media platforms.
It’s also a big deal for users because it allows them to access XR experiences without downloading apps. This is particularly important for Nreal users because the lightweight headset relies on a user’s mobile phone for its computing power.
This WebXR support will be supported through Nebula, the persistent XR experience platform that Nreal unveiled at CES.
Tower Defense MR Game
Nreal also unveiled a new, in-house developed tower-defense style game called Nreal Tower. The game will be one of four pre-installed apps on the updated SDK, which we’ll get to in a moment.
In addition to being an amusing game, Nreal Tower will be a way for developers to get hands-on experience working with Nreal SDK and its apps. The game will also be one of the first mixed reality apps available for the Nreal Light Consumer Kit.
If you haven’t been following Nreal, a tower defense game in the middle of an otherwise fairly business-first press release might seem strange. However, Nreal has posed itself as a formidable gaming application from square one.
The CES announcement linked above included an announcement that their headset developers are working with Black Shark, a game-forward mobile phone company. They also announced their first AR game support at CES 2019.
Nreal Dev Kit Bundles
Nreal has had a dev kit available for a while now. However, their release included the announcement of a dev kit bundle to encourage collaboration in development, specifically of multiplayer games.
The bundle consists of two Nreal Light Developer Kits and one full set of prescription glasses for $2,559. That’s compared to the standard price of $1,119 per headset and $500 for prescription lenses.
Don’t worry if you already have your dev kit – you can still access Nreal Tower.
Partnership With hubraum
The last piece of news that was shared in the release potentially impacts all users but we put it at the end of the article because it was a bit behind the scenes.
Nreal will be partnering with hubraum, Deutsche Telekom’s incubator. Nreal announced the partnership with DT back in march, and this agreement is an expansion of that partnership. And a friendly reminder that that same partnership gives Nreal access to a major 5G distributor in Europe and potentially America in the form of T-Mobile.
The first XR experiences through the partnership are scheduled to go live on May 28, which is when the Mixed Reality Program will launch.
What’s Next?
That’s all the news from Nreal right now, but they have a way of throwing multiple punches at once. So, we might be looking forward from hearing from them again, but as soon as we do we’ll have a lot of news for you.
