Escape! On Google Glass Hands-On

Ever since Google announced the existence of its wearable computer project called Google Glass I’ve wanted to try it out. They’ve crammed a computer into a small frame with the ability to record 720p video, take 5 megapixel pictures, use voice recognition and beam a head-up display in front of your right eye.

We’ve all played flight sims with their HUDs and heard about Apache helicopter pilots flying their aircraft using information from their helmet-mounted displays. With Glass, Google is attempting to bring tech like this to your face and make it part of your life, just like your mobile phone.

At gamescom 2013 I got to try out Glass by playing a game called Escape! from French developer AMA and it is one of the very few titles currently adapted for Glass use. AMA are definitely trailblazing Glass development with this game. It’s available for free on Google Play so you can try it out yourself. It’s a game with a simple premise. You control your character over a series of pads but you must step on every single one and you can only jump forwards.

In the video you can see me playing the game using the Glass’s touch pad which is located just above my right ear, as voice control hadn’t been implemented yet. You can also see what looks like a tiny screen in my right eye from light produced by the front mounted prism projector. Also as I’m concentrating on the game and looking directly at the screen in front of my right eye you get to see what someone using Glass actually looks like.

The game is still very much in development as the Glass unit had to be connected to a laptop to run the game. But, when finished you’ll be able to play it on and offline while you’re travelling or waiting for a friend without a cable in sight.

This game was also running on the Explorer (i.e. expensive) version of Glass which is currently only available to select developers and testers. The much cheaper mass market version (~$300-500 estimated) is still being worked on by Google so don’t expect to see it in shops until 2014 at the earliest.

Escape! is a simple, fun game that shows off the potential for videogames on Glass. Bring on the future.