Augmented reality is a modern technology that enhances your view of things. It enables you to have a 3D view of objects. Augmented reality is used in many fields like advertising, military, education, entertainment and even tourism. Today one of the fastest growing areas to use augmented reality is the gaming industry.

With the augmented reality games, a user will have a feeling of being in the game himself. Augmented reality adds more meaning and information to an object. Augmented reality gives the user the option to have different controls over the game. It combines the real and the virtual. The future of video games lies with the augmented reality. An augmented reality game uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements. It is defined by intense player environment with a story that takes place in real time and goes on according to the player’s responses. The characters are actively controlled by the game’s designers instead of being controlled by artificial intelligence as in a computer game.

Players playing augmented reality games (ARG) interact directly with the characters in the game. They often work together in a community to analyze the story and coordinate real life and the online activities. The first example of the augmented reality games was Dreadnot .The game included working voice phone numbers for characters, clues in the source code, character email address etc. The characters in the game appear to be 3D and it gives the effect that you are really a part of the game. Pervasive play games like the Go game and the Nokia game incorporated many elements similar to ARGs and prefigured the public play components of large scale corporate ARGs like I love Bees.

Augmented reality games have brought about a great revolution in the gaming industry with their innovative ideas and games design. You can view everything in a game as a 3D object. We saw the Bleemcast a few years ago enabling the running of play station games. Consoles are able to emulate other consoles. The Xbox2 is said to have a model under production that comes in a PC case and with the ability to run both PC software and Xbox software. Macs can emulate Windows software and vice versa. In the coming years chances are that you may never find 2 dimensional video games with the augmented reality games taking over. The future of the gaming technology is very amazing and one can expect unlimited 3D attractions.