With an increasing focus on virtual reality, watching sports is likely to go a radical change, and at least Microsoft has given us a glimpse at the future. With Microsoft’s HoloLens, game day is no longer confined to one’s television screen, with 3D holograms of matches covering your entire room! Others, however, like player stats and instant replays beamed to your coffee table, seem like they might be a nice addition to the viewing experience.
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While the video shows the use case for fans of watching the National Football League, a couple of key takeaways hint towards a potential gaming and social aspect of HoloLens that hasn’t been fully covered yet by the media. The concept video shows this in a stylish and accessible way. It is unclear if Microsoft has any of this functionality up and running at this point or if it has any concrete plans to actually develop something like this.
The HoloLens headset is wireless too, so you don’t have to be connected to a computer. The company’s partnership already includes providing all teams with Microsoft Surface tablets for use during games (and requiring them to use only that tablet). In the Patriots vs. Broncos game last month, the Patriots experienced a technical problem with their tablets, but it was apparently a network issue.
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In a blog post written by Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft and National Football League are presently looking into how technology could revolutionize the Super Bowl in the next 50 years – and met at a panel discussion to thrash out issues on this futuristic idea. No one knows, yet when consumers will get access to HoloLens or when scenarios like this will become a reality.
