Augmented Reality Inside Video Games: Tom Clancy's The Division

One of the most anticipated video game in 2016, The Division, has got a whole lot of live trailers which helps to build up the hype for the title. Many Youtube channels such as Corridor Digital, Logan Fulton, RocketJump, DevinSuperTramp and Constipated Owl recreated the intense world of after crisis  NYC from their own perspective.

But we are not here to talk about this video game. We are here because of this:

That's right, the characters in The Division have AR eyeballs. It lets you do super cool stuff in video games such looking at the map, seeing marked enemy behind walls and even organizing your inventory. 

So we started wondering if such a tech would exist in real life? Hence, lets do a little research.

Based on the trailers from Ubisoft and all the live trailers, we can see that none of them were wearing any eyeglasses or anything in physical which rules out devices such as HoloLens or Google Glass. These reduces the possibilities of devices to something requires it to be nearly invisible or embedded within our flesh. such as augmented eyeball implants or an augmented lens. 

Here, we rule out augmented eyeball implants because after our little web research, we found out that experimental bionic eye implants that existed now may only help blind people to recover part of their vision. This is not something a Division agent would trade their eyes for.

Optic lenses on the other hand shows something more promising. Although you can't see pop up virtual maps yet, but it does feels like super power. The solution is, Ocumetics Bionic Lens. According from sources, the lenses has embedded optic system which works like a powerful camera and was able to shift focus faster than the human eyes.

Dr. Garth Webb, the co-founder of Complete EyeCare Optometry Clinic confirms that the lenses enhances your eye sight three times more than the normal 20/20 and it only requires a 8 minute surgery. He also qouted that:

"If you can just barely see the clock at 10 feet, when you get the Bionic Lens you can see the clock at 30 feet (9 metres) away."

Although confirmed, but the lenses still needs to pass it clinical tests before it is available for the public. Launching is expected in 2017. 

And there you go, the invention that got so close to the fictional tech from video game. Can't wait to get one? Don't worry. You can still enjoy the awesome tech from inside Tom Clancy's: The Division which is due to release in March 2016.