Thanks to the efforts of the Canadian video game developer Kenny Wang, Portal has been made an augmented reality within the Microsoft HoloLens, allowing him to wield the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to move and manipulate Companion Cubes, which can be tossed through the orange and blue portals from the game, and can even take out the title’s turret guns. As seen in the video below from KennyWdev – that is, the YouTube handle for Wang – elements of Portal being put on display in the real world is incredibly impressive.
[embed width=“800” height=“450]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWRSCABrdR8[/embed]
Based on the high quality of work evidenced in the brief clip above, it makes perfect sense that Kenny Wang’s recreation of Portal for the Microsoft HoloLens isn’t the first instance of the video game developer and designer recreating an already existing intellectual property and porting it into the realm of augmented reality. As a matter of fact, he put together a Pokemon AR game for the headset, which let fans hunt, capture, and battle some of the creatures from Nintendo and Game Freak’s wildly popular role-playing game franchise.
For those unaware, the Microsoft HoloLens has been available for more than a year at this point, but with dev kits starting at $3000, it’s obvious that the product is not intended for most consumers or avid gamers just yet. Of course, considering the aforementioned development skills of Kenny Wang with the HoloLens, it’s quite possible for Microsoft to be closer to having a less expensive, and more video game-driven model out soon enough.
Taking all of this into consideration, Portal would be a great choice to be adapted into an official augmented reality game for the HoloLens, as it would allow for a fun experience for all audiences while getting them used to the headset’s technology. Naturally, though, until Valve gives the go-ahead for production of a Portal AR title, fans can still enjoy one of the best games from the last generation on a plethora of different platforms.
Portal is available on Android devices, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
