International food giant Nestle is adding an augmented reality promotional game for the new Rio movie to the back of some of its cereal boxes in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Developed by French game- and tool-maker Dassault Systemes, the game uses a web-cam and
a web site powered by Dassault's 3DVIA plugin to detect a cutout from the cereal box, designed to be worn around the player's hand.
The simple game
allows players to interact with the movie's titular bird, and will be available on 26 million cereal boxes sold in 53 countries, including Nesquik, Chocapic, Cookie Crisp, Cini-Minis, Estrelitas, Honey Stars, Koko Krunch Milo, Nescau and Trix.
This is the third augmented reality game collaboration between Nestle and Dassault. Previous games let players
tilt the cereal box to help free a character trapped inside and
control a motorcycle using a head-mounted cars.
A number of simple augmented reality games are included with Nintendo's new 3DS system, using the system's built in cameras and gyroscope to let the player view 3D characters in the real world. Camera-based AR has also been used in Sony's
EyePet and
Invizimals titles for the PS3 and PSP, respectively, as well as a growing number of iPhone games.
Last May, augmented reality company Ogmento
attracted $3.5 million in venture capital funding for its educational iPhone AR titles.
