Be Iron Man with Hasbro's Avengers: Infinity War Hero Vision
Unveiled just before Toy Fair kicks off in New York City, this helmet combined with augmented reality puts you in a fight against Thanos.
- Bridget has spent over 18 years as a consumer tech reporter, hosting daily tech news shows and writing syndicated newspaper columns. She's often a guest on national radio and television stations, including ABC, CBS, CNBC and NBC.
The Hero Vision set lets players suit up as Iron Man both in real-life and through augmented reality.
Hasbro's first augmented reality toy, themed after Marvel superheroes, lets you suit up like Tony Stark with a real-life mask and your phone.
The Marvel Avengers: Infinity War Hero Vision Iron Man AR Experience lets kids or role-playing adults become Iron Man by first putting an iPhone or Android phone inside a pair of goggles that go inside a mask. After placing down AR markers and putting on the mask as well as the gauntlet, you get to see your own arm as Iron Man's. Then you battle the villainous Thanos.
The Hero Vision set includes the Iron Man helmet, AR goggles, AR markers, a gauntlet and an Infinity Stone token.
The $50 (roughly converting to £35, AU$65) set pairs with a free app, which is activated after scanning an Infinity Stone token. You place the token on the gauntlet with the AR markers that come with the set. Hasbro pointed out that a series of Infinity Stone tokens are coming, but did not discuss in what form except that they'll be compatible with this Iron Man-themed set.
When ready, the game lets players push their arm in front of them. Palm-out will shoot at enemies and palm-in will defend against attacks. Thanos and his army spawn anywhere the AR markers have been placed.
Thanos and his armies appear inside the game over the AR markers placed in the room.
Hasbro said that its app will work with older phones . We did our demo with an iPhone 6 . However, Hasbro cautioned that the Plus-sized version of the iPhone and similar-sized Android phones might not fit inside the mask. Also, the app doesn't use Apple 's ARKit technology on the iPhone, nor is the internet needed to create the experience.
Sergio Paolantonio, the director of Hasbro's augmented reality division, said that the company is doubling down more on AR than VR due to its inherently social nature. The Infinity Stone tokens, whenever future ones come out, will be compatible with this set.
"We can combine a digital narrative together with the exchange of physical tokens," Paolantonio said, noting that kids will also be able to play together using the same AR markers.
Hero Vision is scheduled to go on sale this spring.
Hero Vision is being debuted in time for Toy Fair 2018, which will take place in New York City starting this Friday. Stay tuned to CNET for more toy coverage from the show.