New Augmented Reality Program Offers Exciting Way to Watch League of Legends

A new augmented reality program that was revealed during a recent Google Pixel 2 livestream could [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

A new augmented reality program that was revealed during a recent Google Pixel 2 livestream could introduce an innovative platform to watch your favorite League of Legends pros do battle.

The AR tech seems to be called the Grab AR Tabletop Replay Platform for now and turns viewers' coffee tables or other surfaces into an AR viewing area. Grab Games, the company behind the in-development tech, says on their site that the Tabletop Replay Platform can be used from multiple outlets ranging from League of Legends to football games.

The livestream for Google's new Pixel 2 phone didn't linger on the League of Legends gameplay for too long, but the brief glimpse that was offered was all that viewers needed to get hyped at the idea of changing the way that spectators watch League games. Through the livestream and a video that was uploaded by Grab Games, the AR changes made to the way viewers watch the League games can be seen in greater detail.

A blue dot in the middle of the screen appears to be the primary way to select certain components of the AR replay while viewers move freely around a map of Summoner's Rift. Long-pressing an on-screen feature seems to expand on it in greater detail, an example of which is seen when the cursor hovers over Ahri's name and drops down her skills and stats. Several controls at the bottom also look to provide options for moving around the map, scaling the view, and possibly resetting the perspective, but the results of each option weren't shown in the preview.

Another perspective of Summoner's Rift shown from the ground level includes champion models, and while it doesn't look like it shows their every movement, they appear to represent the champions' general positions on the map, almost like board game pieces. Considering that players can track certain champions and players while spectating, the models will likely be used to reach similar results by interacting with them.

It's unclear at this time how available Grab Games' AR Replay Platform will be outside of the Google Pixel 2 phone, but the tech will hopefully make its way to other AR-compatible devices.

[via The Verge]

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