BBC’s next immersive experience won’t be appearing on the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive; it’s coming to Magic Leap One.
The organization today announced BBC Earth – Micro Kingdoms: Senses for the AR headset. Developed by Preloaded and BBC Studios, the experience will use the AR headset to digitally project micro habitats from the natural world into your living room.
Imagine, for example, placing an ant colony on your coffee table. According to a press release, the experience will reveal “the invisible senses” that make these habitats function. We don’t have any footage to show just yet, but it sounds like it could be a pretty intriguing use of AR tech. Imagine a David Attenborough-style documentary where you could lean in and inspect creatures and environments in close detail without the risk of upsetting them.
Preloaded also worked with the BBC on the excellent Life in VR app for Google Daydream. The team also worked on one of Within’s AR experiences, A Brief History Of Amazing Stunts. This latest experience is being developed under Magic Leaps’ Independent Creator Program. It’s designed to provide funding and mentorship to those looking to get into AR development. Another experience developed under the initiative, PuzzlAR, released last week.
Micro Kingdoms will be hitting Magic Leap later this year. For now, Magic Leap’s headset remains as a Creator Edition, mainly intended for developers. There’s still no word on when a more consumer-focused headset might be released. With the help of the Independent Creator Program, though, Magic Leap hopes to establish a thriving ecosystem for when it does.
