JUMP BACK

As the years have rolled by and VR has failed to live up to Palmer Luckey’s early promises, AR has either joined or replaced it as where pundits claim the exciting things are

really happening. At the vanguard of the augmented-reality movement is Magic Leap One, a muchfancied AR headset whose processing oomph is provided by a small but weighty PC that clips to your trouser pocket. While Magic Leap has assembled an enviable array of talent, including former Apple games guru Graeme Devine, One is still a work in progress: early adopters will have to cough up $2,500 for a developer unit. A brief session suggests there is little to justify the price tag. And there are already signs of the wheels coming off. The firm is bidding, alongside Microsoft, for the contract to build what the US Army calls HUD 3.0 – which will “increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy.” Erm, cool?