Hard rock titans Mastodon have announced that their upcoming new album The Hunter will be released in several configurations that feature an exciting interactive 3D experience known as Augmented Reality. The technology, created by Los Angeles-based Company Total Immersion, combines virtual and real worlds to create a 3D one-of-a-kind interactive experience that users can control. Just by using a camera on a computer, their own face and the cover art on The Hunter, the user can turn themselves into The Hunter sculpture that is pictured on the cover.

Though the track “Black Tongue,” from The Hunter has already made its presence known, “Curl Of The Burl,” will be the first official single from the album and will be digitally released worldwide on August 16th through all digital music retailers. A video for the track will be filmed in the near future.

The physical configurations for The Hunter, which will be released by Reprise Records on September 27th, are as follows:

Standard CD includes the album’s 13 tracks, plus a basic Augmented Reality Experience in which the users head becomes the ‘creature’ on the album’s front cover in full 3D.

The online version developed by Total Immersion and Innovae Vision uses movement detection and tracking: players catch candies with their hand and put them in a bag to score. The challenge will be online until the end of August.

Total Immersion’s partner C4M developped the smartphone version. The game is truly immersive as the player has the sensation to have candies flying all around him.  The Smartphone version is available for the French territory only.

Now, gift card buyers can easily attach a special video message to a gift card. With the AR app – developed by Credelis and Ad-Dispatch using Total Immersion’s D’Fusion software – gift cards come alive, conveying messages that go beyond the face value of the card.  Ad-Dispatch and Credelis are members of Total Immersion’s North American Partner network, the world’s largest network dedicated to augmented reality.

For the gift card buyer, the experience is as simple as uploading or recording a video message and entering the recipient’s information.  It’s just as easy to receive as to give: all the recipient needs to do is open a website, display the gift card to a webcam and then watch as the gift card plays the personalized message.

Credelis is an innovative media company specializing in digital “Outernet” solutions.  The Outernet combines emerging digital mediums, such as digital signage and touchscreens, together with mobile, the web and out-of-home advertising.   Ad-Dispatch is one of Canada’s leading content providers, working with some of the top brands in the country.

Nathan Interactive Book : Dokéo+ with Dokito

This book developed and designed for kids between 2 and 5 years old proposes funny interactions with a dedicated character : Dokito.

Hachette Parlour Game : “La Boite à Enigmes Junior”

It’s a 2 to 12 players game based on riddles. You have 100 differents riddles to solve in which 10 propose Augmented Reality Experiences.

Nathan Cards Sets : Dokéo Augmented Reality Cards

5 sets of cards designed for kids featuring Augmented Reality Experience to better understand Geography, Science, History and Physical Science !

Artoons : Augmented Reality T-Shirts for kids !

4 differents Augmented T-Shirts especially designed for kids between 2 and 5. More information here.

See how the augmented reality from the video game box art works!

More to come soon…

You can experience it here .

The July issue cover will feature a Scream-style mask. When readers click on the 3D section of Focus magazine’s websiteand hold the cover in front of a webcam, a 3D spider will creep out of one of the eyes and run around the page, disappearing briefly behind the magazine before reappearing at the bottom of the cover.

Jheni Osman, Editor of Focus, said: “This issue of Focus will really test your nerves. And that’s exactly what we’re after – a really deep reader reaction. It’s fantastic to be able to interact with our readers in this way and it makes absolute sense for us to put into practice some of the technology that they are so used to reading about.”

The augmented reality content has been produced in collaboration with Total Immersion using its patented D’Fusion technology.

Myles Peyton, EMEA Sales Director at Total Immersion, said: “We are delighted to be working with Focus to create our first ever augmented reality magazine cover in the UK.

“This technology offers readers a completely new interactive experience and helps take printed magazines to a whole new digital level.  We have already launched augmented reality magazine covers in the US and France and there’s definitely the potential for augmented reality to become a more regular feature of magazine publishing as the technology evolves in the future.”

Readers of the July issue will also be able to use augmented reality technology to view a video of an exploding death star and a 3D model of two neutron stars colliding.

This science of fear special issue celebrates the 50^th anniversary of Hitchcock’s Psycho, investigating what triggers fear, where phobias come from and how to beat them. The July issue of Focus will go on sale on 3^rd June, priced £3.60.

Also available from 3^rd June will be the Find Focus channel for the popular augmented reality app Layar. After installing the app onto their iPhone or Android mobile, readers can download the Find Focus channel to see the location of Focus retailers, and also find science and discovery centres around the UK. This will be the first channel of its kind for the UK magazine industry.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Focus
Focus, the BBC’s popular science and technology monthly, brings readers a unique editorial proposition with a reliable and accessible voice through expert journalism and close links to acclaimed BBC programming. The magazine covers technology, discovery and exploration, the natural world, environmental issues and anything else that can be explained though science. It has a monthly circulation of 71,783 (ABC Jul-Dec 2009) and is published by BBC Magazines Bristol, a trading name of Bristol Magazines Ltd., which is a subsidiary of BBC Worldwide Ltd.

About BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the licence fee payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. The company has seven core businesses: Channels, Content & Production, Digital Media, Sales & Distribution, Magazines, Home Entertainment and Global Brands. In 2008/09, BBC Worldwide generated profits of £102.6 million (before exceptionals) on sales of over £1 billion.

Total Immersion

Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com) is the global leader in augmented reality. Through its patented D’Fusion® technology, Total Immersion blurs the line between the virtual world and the real world by integrating real time interactive 3D graphics into a live video stream. Leading the augmented reality category since 1999, the company maintains offices in Europe (France and UK), Asia and in the U.S., and supports a network of more than 60 partners worldwide. Find the latest news concerning Total Immersion projects at: http://augmented-reality-news.com.

Total Immersion’s partner in Indonesia, AR & Co and Kompas has launched Kompas AR, Asia first markerless augmented reality newspaper.
First AR advertising has been made for Polygone Bicycles featuring one product.

More information about this program on official website.

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