The developers at Virtex Apps have announced that they are ready to take their in-stadium AR gaming experience, available on the Google Play Store as Virtex Arena, beyond football to include baseball. For those who may not be aware, the team first revealed Virtex Arena as a way for fans of the sport to get involved in AR games during intermissions at professional games. Players would effectively use the app to play on-field games tied to the sport against other game attendees. Taking advantage of the latest crazes in AR, the game would be presented to each player from the perspective of their seat in the stadium or arena. It’s an intriguing concept that never really took off for football, according to the downloads figures attached to its Google Play Store listing. However, the developers feel that baseball may actually be more suited for the experience since intermissions are more frequent thanks to the sport’s innings structure.
Of course, downloading the free app is only the beginning, as the company bills its app as a way to enhance and improve the experience solely for those who are attending a live sporting event. To that end, players will need to enter pertinent information before playing, such as their seat number at the location where the event is taking place. Their smartphone screen will then show the field of play from their perspective with the virtual game embedded into the scene. As with the football version of the game, fans will interact with their smartphone to compete with other fans. That involves taking swings at virtual pitches via on-screen swipes or catching virtual fly balls using on-field representations of athletes.
All of that is marketed as a way to keep fans entertained during the more dull moments that occur in between innings but Virtex Apps also sees the solution as a tool for promoting sponsors. Aside from the use of more obvious methods like virtual signs and banners, the company says that sponsors can get creative, embedding special powered-up balls or bats that “reflect” their brand. Whether or not that ultimately takes off, it actually looks like quite a bit of fun and it will be interesting to see where the innovators behind it take things from here. There’s currently no release date announced for the new update but, in the meantime, anybody interested in checking it out can get the still-football-oriented free game via the Google Play Store banner below.
