At Microsoft’s E3 conference today, the company let loose with another live demonstration of their mixed reality headset HoloLens. In the demo they showed a number of features, including the newly revealed multiplayer function for non-headset players.
Update: We’ve now got the video to show (see above)
Playing with an XBox controller and a big screen “portal”, Studio Manager of Team Dakota Saxs Persson demonstrated the HoloLens’ ability to use traditional control schemes for input. This is interesting enough, but what about the device’s ability to really manipulate spaces?
Persson then revealed that the space was indeed a multiplayer server, and that it was compatible with his partner’s Surface tablet. Persson then stepped over to a table where a 3D ‘hologram’ of the scene was brought to life in realtime. With a mix of voice controls like “Follow Player” and “Mark that,” the two were able to play cooperatively, one in the scenery below and the HoloLens user having the ability to look at the scene as if it were a model.
Interestingly enough, Persson used a combination of pinch/grab gestures combined with the vocal commands to summon a lightning bolt as to explode a pile of dynamite, successfully blowing a hole in the multiplayer map’s floor to reveal a strong hold below.
We were unsure if the Minecraft versions previously demonstrated by Microsoft were the real deal, or if they were in someway limited to only a few flashy actions, but with the addition of multiplayer mode and the demo we saw today, there’s no doubt the authenticity of the game’s playability.
We’re in LA covering all things VR at E3 this week so stay tuned.
