Magic Leap Will Bring Star Wars to Mixed Reality

The mysterious Magic Leap just partnered up with Lucasfilm's ILM xLAB to bring Star Wars to their mixed reality headsets. Based on the video demo making its way around the internet, it looks pretty impressive.

We don't know much about Magic Leap and what form its headset will take, despite leaked renderings that may or may not be accurate, but the footage above is shot directly through the headset without any editing, special effects, or compositing. Nevertheless, controlled demonstrations tend to offer a much more attractive result than reality.

If the HoloLens serves as an indicator, the video coming out of these headsets always makes the holograms look fuller and richer than they seem when you're actually experiencing them inside the device. Furthermore, these demos use a room with the most ideal conditions for the demonstration. While it looks like a normal living room, the light is very controlled.

Also, it's necessary for depth sensors on these devices to scan the room so they know exactly where to place holographic objects. When a normal person scans the room, it's nearly guaranteed to be less-thorough than the average consumer. As cool as Magic Leap's (and other mixed reality) demos may be, you should always bear in mind that they likely won't look as good the day you get into one of the headsets.

All of that said, even if this Star Wars game worked about half as well as it does in this video it surely won't disappoint fans. We don't know much of anything about the game or how it'll work, but that's almost beside the point. Interacting with these classic characters in your own home and entering the Star Wars universe in a way never before possible is amazing, even if a few glitches occur. For so long, we've watched our favorite movies on a flat screen—soon we'll be able to step inside.

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Cover image via ILMVisualFX/YouTube