Owners of the Nreal Air AR glasses are in for a treat, and those who don’t yet have a pair might want to consider fixing that pretty soon. That’s because Nreal says it’s adding Windows support, making these glasses the go-to way to game.
The additional compatibility comes via Nebula for Windows, an app that will turn the Air glasses into the equivalent of an ultra-wide monitor. That means that gamers will feel like they’re playing on a curved 21:9 monitor which will be a huge deal for people who don’t actually have one of those monster monitors sitting on their desks. They’re just so big!
Gaming first
Engadget reports that Nreal already believes that 68% of its Air wearers are using the glasses for gaming, so it’s no surprise to anyone that the company is keen to leverage that and add gaming support as soon as possible.
Once installed, Nebula for Windows will reportedly give gamers three degrees of freedom (3-DoF), something that will allow them to move their head around and have the inputs mapped in-game. There won’t be support for leaning or moving through 3D space, though.
With that in mind, this clearly isn’t going to replace anyone’s dedicated AR gaming system. But for someone who wants to be able to play a game and feel like they have a massive monitor in front of them, this could be a very good thing indeed.
Unfortunately, Nreal hasn’t said when any of this will actually happen. The Air is currently all about Android gaming, but the company took its gear to the GDC 2023 event in San Francisco this week. That suggests it’s not playing around here and sees a real chance for the Air AR glasses to become a proper gaming accessory.
AR and AR gaming continues to be a focus for a lot of companies, with Apple thought to be about to enter the fray with its own mixed reality headset dubbed Reality Pro. It’s expected to cost around $3,000 for the first iteration, however, so it won’t be for everyone. Reality Pro is expected to be announced this June.
