This week at CineEurope 2018, the Barco cinema joint venture Cinionic and chip designer AMD a are showcasing what the companies say are the world’s first multiplayer, augmented reality cinema lobby gaming applications aimed at creating a new social adventure in theatres and other location-based entertainment venues. The technology combines digital cinema lobby signage with multi-player augmented reality technology to create mini attractions that engage patrons in thrilling entertainment before and after the feature presentation.
Location-based AR represents an exciting opportunity to offer moviegoers immersive and interactive experiences not possible elsewhere. According to some estimates there will be more than four billion AR-compatible Smart phones by 2020.
“We’re thrilled to power this new mixed reality lobby experience with AMD’s industry-leading computing and graphics processors to create solutions that immerse moviegoers into cinematic worlds where they can enjoy memorable, interactive experiences,” said Greg Patrick, Cinionic’s vice president lobby experience.
An increasing number of Hollywood studios are embracing AR to provide moviegoers with new ways to engage with their blockbuster movie content as well as create new revenue streams. Cinionic, along with its technology partners including AMD, offers a turnkey solution that delivers inclusive, social AR entertainment purpose-built for cinema lobbies, out of existing AR games and Apps. Moviegoers and their family members can now participate in gaming experiences, select their preferred avatar and act together in an immersive mixed reality cinematic world.
“We are excited to collaborate with Cinionic to fuel these rich, dynamic gaming applications that truly transform the cinema experience from movie-watching to a full evening of multidimensional entertainment,” said Stephen Turnbull, director of embedded solutions at AMD. “The combination of our graphics expertise and powerful compute capabilities from the AMD Ryzen and Radeon Pro product lines deliver the robust encoding speeds and advanced image rendering features that bring a new level of reality to AR.”