【Ava Fabian Archives】

Easter Sunday is Ava Fabian Archivesjust hours away, and since it's 2017, and we're apparently living in the future, Microsoft has unveiled the first ever augmented reality Easter Egg hunt.

The game was unveiled this weekend in Los Angeles at the VRLA conference where Microsoft and a team of AR developers allowed me to enter a surrealist forest construct where holographic eggs could be found using the HoloLens headset.

SEE ALSO: 7 Silicon Valley CEOs weigh in on Microsoft and the HoloLens

While the rest of the world can only see the physical environment of the forest room space, using the HoloLens I was immediately presented with a living landscape, filled with the sounds of birds, animated flowers and rabbits furtively scurrying around the space. And when I discovered my first Easter Egg, the egg responded to my gaze by exploding open into a Disney-like flourish of color and sound.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

In previous HoloLens demonstrations, I viewed virtual objects and figures floating in space in an open room, but here the virtual objects interacted with the room's freestanding physical features in very specific ways. For example, when I made my final egg discovery, a small dragon emerged from the egg.

But instead of hovering in place, the virtual dragon flew above my head and then traveled around the very real tree construct in the room and then returned to its original position.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"There's mapping that's done with a depth camera that creates a 3D mesh of the world and that's synced with head tracking," said AfterNow's Philippe Lewicki (one of the producers of the experience), explaining how the marriage of the virtual and the real was accomplished.

Beyond AR games like Pokémon Go and the like, this is the first time we've seen a glimpse of what might be possible when merging pre-mapped real world environments with AR in a way that blurs the line between reality and the vast possibilities of holographic experiences.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The game only lasts about three minutes, but the experience serves as a powerful demonstration of what popular live shows like Sleep No More(an interactive play that lets the audience roam throughout elaborate sets) could do with AR experiences powered by devices like the HoloLens.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"This project really is a proof of concept for a best case scenario of a much more elaborate pre-built experience," says Ralph Barbagallo, the founder of Flarb, the AR company that built the majority of the Easter Egg app experience for the HoloLens. "Imagine an amusement style attraction with film-quality assets and more advanced headsets with wider FOVs and the ability to not only additively draw on top of your vision but replace what you are seeing as well."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

And although this particular experience isn't slated to be rolled out widely to the public, when this kind of AR-meets-custom-real-world-environment treatment doeshit the mainstream in coming years, it will finally deliver on some of the promises we've heard from futurecasters about how AR may change how we interact with the real world.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

And to answer the question that I know is burning in your brain, yes, there "was" very real and very tasty HoloLens chocolate waiting for us after finding our virtual eggs.

---

Featured Video For You

---

HoloLens IRL: What it's like in Microsoft's version of augmented reality

---

Topics Augmented Reality Microsoft

• Tech
• Shopping
• Entertainment
• Social Good
• Science
• Life
• Deals
• Digital Culture

• The Queer Art of Failing Better
• Insatiable's throuple storyline is its primary meaningful satire
• Hate crime study shows Facebook stokes violence against refugees
• No, you can't just text your last will and testament to someone, court rules
• Who’s Afraid of the “Petextrian”?
• 'To All the Boys' is the romcom for girls who thought they'd die alone
• 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before' has a little secret in the credits
• Man seriously injured after blast in New York's Central Park
• Reverse Robin Hoods
• 15 things that make 2016 America actually awesome

• Umpire takes a pitch to the groin and we feel his pain from here
• Find out your state's favorite 'Star Wars' movie
• We've reached peak sharing because there's now a basketball
• Microsoft's Bing wants you to chat with search results
• Couple sitting on a boat created a very NSFW optical illusion
• 5 snacks from a galaxy far far away to help you celebrate 'Star Wars'
• UberPOOL just got way safer and less stressful
• The Force is strong with these giant 'sabertrees'
• 'Smite' pro David 'Allied' Hance dies after year
• Miley Cyrus is getting seriously dragged for her critique of hip

• Kitchen-Sink Drama
• Dad probably could've used some help dressing his baby for daycare
• Google sued over tracking locations even when 'Location History' is off
• Google sued over tracking locations even when 'Location History' is off
• Soundtrack to a Drug War
• Watch a very cute dog husk some corn on the farm
• Elie Wiesel's writing and influence remembered after his death
• Justin Trudeau makes historic Pride march in Toronto
• The Opioid Thief
• Watch a very cute dog husk some corn on the farm

• Period Feminism
• Chrissy Teigen is responsible for the Great Blender War of 2016
• Amazon ruined its video game pre
• The #DeleAlliChallenge has the internet making a weird hand gesture
• Antifascism and the Left’s Fear of Power
• Netflix is testing ads and people are freaking out
• Watch a very cute dog husk some corn on the farm
• Justin Bieber probably doesn't know what Netflix and chill means
• Control-Alt-Fail
• Feds warn about drones after Venezuela attack