TOMY – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 14, 2021

Team up With the Autobots in AR Game Transformers: Heavy Metal in 2021

Niantic Labs is used to bringing big name IP’s like Pokemon and Harry Potter into augmented reality (AR) and today it’s revealed another. The AR specialist company has announced a collaboration with Hasbro and TOMY on a new AR videogame called Transformers: Heavy Metal.

Built on the Niantic Lightship platform Transformers: Heavy Metal will see players team up with Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and other Autobots as they battle the Decepticons. Seattle-based Very Very Spaceship is leading development creating a narrative where players join the Guardian Network, a group of humans helping the Autobots. As one of these Guardians, players have to discover resources and regions across the world whilst battling Decepticons in turn-based battles, either solo or with friends.

“Transformers is the perfect franchise for AR. Battling and interacting with giant robots in the real world is an amazing experience,” said John Hanke, CEO of Niantic. “We want to live up to the high expectations of Transformers fans around the world and bring them a game unlike anything they’ve played before.”

If you’ve played either Pokemon GO or Harry Potter: Wizards Unite then you’ll know the type of real-world gaming Niantic Labs encourages through its projects, requiring players to get out and about to maximise the experience. This is thanks to the Lightship platform Niantic has developed, providing real-time 3D mapping and multiplayer social experiences which developers can use to build their own AR worlds using the Niantic Lightship ARDK.

Specific gameplay details for Transformers: Heavy Metal have yet to be revealed but there shouldn’t be too long to wait to find out. While a global launch is slated for later in 2021 a soft launch will be taking place in select markets soon.

Transformers: Heavy Metal is in no way the franchises’ first foray into immersive gaming. There’s been Transformers: VR Invasion and Transformers: VR Battle Arena for location-based entertainment (LBE) venues, while back in 2017 saw Cade’s Junkyard AR Experience allowed players to control Bumblebee.

As further details for Transformers: Heavy Metal are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.

July 6, 2017

TOMY and PlayFusion Announce Lightseekers Now Available At Toys’R’Us

PlayFusion, creators of augmented reality (AR) collectable game Lightseekers along with its major toy licensee TOMY International have announced that Lightseekers toys, trading cards and accessories will now be available in Toys’R’Us stores.

Toys’R’Us are one of the biggest toy stores in the US and Europe, and soon customers visiting Toys’R’Us stores will be able to scan interactive posters and Lightseeker’s packaging to get special AR effects. The Lightseekers app is available to download from the Apple Appstore, the Google Play Store and the Amazon App store and allows users to connect 7” Lightseeker’s action figures to the Lightseeker’s card game. The figures come with their own miniature embedded computers, so NFC portals such as those used for Amiibos are not needed.

Lightseekers action figure

“It has been an incredible journey with our partners at TOMY and Toys”R”Us as we all worked tirelessly to make Lightseekers a reality,” said Mark Gerhard, CEO and Co-Founder of PlayFusion. “Having the Lightseekers product available now at Toys”R”Us stores is the culmination of two and half years of hard work, but it’s just the beginning. We have many more innovations coming over the next few months to Lightseekers, so get ready for the future of connected play.”

“All of us at TOMY and PlayFusion have been looking forward to this day for a long time, and we are thrilled to have Toys”R”Us bring this truly innovative line into its stores. From a very successful Kickstarter campaign to garnering rave early reviews to a successful BETA test that built an actively engaged community, the Lightseekers momentum has led us to this day that we have all been eagerly anticipating for several years now,” said Peter Henseler, President of TOMY International. “We’re looking forward to giving Toys”R”Us customers the chance to experience the innovation behind the game play and see for themselves what sets Lightseekers apart.”

VRFocus will bring you further information on the Lightseekers AR game as it becomes available.

May 8, 2017

PlayFusion’s Lightseekers Mixes Toys, Trading Cards and AR into one

With the interactive/interconnected world we live in toys are no longer solitary items for kids to play with. There can be layers upon layers of different gameplay elements to learn and collect like Skylanders and Nintendo’s Amiibos. The latest comes from British game and robotics company PlayFusion, in collaboration with toy giant TOMY, with Lightseekers, a trading card game that’s also a videogame with augmented reality (AR) elements.

The Lightseekers Trading Card Game will arrive with more than 350 printed cards at launch allowing players to use a hero and an arsenal of cards, featuring spells, creatures, items, and locations, to defeat their opponents. There’s also a free mobile videogame for iOS and Android that can utilise the cards. This is where the AR functionality comes into play, scanning the cards will bring up 3D models of whatever item or character that particular card featured, which then unlocks in the videogame.

lightseekers_cards

Cards are available for purchase online at Toys”R”Us and Amazon in the US and UK. At launch customers will be able to buy the Intro Pack for $29.99 USD, that includes: two intro decks (one Storm and one Tech), each deck includes one hero card, five combo cards, and 30 action cards; one Booster Pack; two play mats; two health counters; the full game rules; two deck storage boxes; a trading shield; and a Tribute Card.

After that there’s the Starter Decks for $19.99. Each of these includes: one hero card, five combo cards, and 30 action cards;
5 exclusive cards that can only be found in these Starter Deck packs; one Booster Pack containing another nine random cards that can be used to start building your own custom deck; one play mat; one health counter; the full game rules; a deck storage box; a trading shield; and a Tribute Card. Additionally, $3.99 booster packs are available containing one hero card, one rare card, two uncommon, five common cards, and a possible rare “shiny” card.

While Lightseekers may feature an AR element videogames such as Pokemon GO and Hologrid: Monster Battle do actually feature AR gameplay.

VRFocus will continue its coverage relating to the latest AR use cases, reporting back as further announcements are made.