You’ve read the hype, salivated over the idea of playing mixed reality Minecraft, and now’s your chance to experience the HoloLens augmented reality headset.
Microsoft recently announced the HoloLens Roadshow, a tour featuring one-on-one demonstrations of HoloLens hardware at select Microsoft Stores in the U.S. and Canada. While we’re not sure if there’ll be a Minecraft demonstration, you will get to experience the magic of HoloLens for yourself.
If you’ve never tried virtual or augmented reality, this seems like a great opportunity. VR and AR are transformative technologies but they don’t lend themselves well to video. It’s best if you can try it out for yourself to truly wrap your head around the experience—and Microsoft’s traveling demo tour will let you do so without spending big bucks to actually buy a headset
The impact on you at home: The HoloLens roadshow will hit twelve North American cities in total between September 15 and October 23. The roadshow is already running in Bellevue, Washington, which is just down the road from Microsoft HQ in Redmond. Each demonstration will last 15 minutes and intended for people aged 13 years and older. Microsoft is taking reservations for each session on its site. If you want to attend, you’d best reserve a spot as soon as you can.
Not really for sale
The HoloLens is still officially in its development phase, and the high-priced HoloLens development kit is well out of the reach of most consumers at $3,000. Nevertheless, Microsoft does plan to roll this technology out to consumers eventually—though the plan is to introduce it to enterprises first.
Putting the technology in the hands of consumers now will help build additional interest in the technology—not to mention get a few more people into the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft has some big plans for Holographic technology in the coming months. Not only is it showing off the power of HoloLens in Microsoft Stores, the company also plans to add new features to Windows 10 in 2017 that will make it easier to run mixed reality programs on PCs.