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Console gaming still involves sitting down with a controller in front of a TV, but that doesn’t mean gaming hasn’t changed drastically in recent years. With AR glasses, I can now play games in my private home theater anywhere, anytime. Here’s why it’s the most fun I’ve had with gaming in my adult life.
1A (Virtual) Screen Larger Than Your TV
Growing up, a big-screen TV seemed the epitome of video game luxury. Now, that almost feels quaint. Sure, there remains something impressive about a game running in 4K on a massive screen, and TVs have gotten much bigger over the years. Still, with AR glasses, think even bigger.
I purchased theXReal Air 2 Pro, which plugs into the USB-C port of my phone or laptop. You can get a similar experience with theTCL NXTWEARas well.
The display before my eyes feels more like a projector than a TV. Like a projector, the image quality isn’t as sharp, but the projection is massive. When wearing these glasses while sitting in front of a TV, the virtual display can make a 60-inch screen feel rather dainty. The virtual display instead stretches out over much of the wall.
2You Can Take This Screen With You Anywhere
An 80-inch TV isn’t viable in a lot of homes. It can overpower an apartment, and even in a large, open-concept home, you have to decide if you want to dedicate that much of your living space to a screen that may spend most of its time off. Additionally, you can only fully appreciate the screen from a specific spot, meaning anyone you live with may have to “enjoy” whatever you’re watching, whether they like it or not.
AR glasses are much more flexible. You’re free to get up from the living room and game anywhere you like. Play while sitting on a bench outside. Play while burning calories on a treadmill. you may even continue gaming on the couch while someone else watches TV, provided they’re comfortable with you zoning out for a bit.
Then there’s my personal favorite: lying in bed in a dark room after putting the kids to bed, with the virtual display stretched across the ceiling and my Bluetooth controller and I tucked under the blanket. A parent deserves some luxuries.
3Games Feel More Immersive
When I worked as an AV tech in college, there was a day when we got to hook up our own computers to the theater’s projector and “test things out.” Seeing a game fill a theater is a different experience from playing the same game on your laptop screen. Wearing AR glasses feels closer to the former.
It really doesn’t matter what kind of game I’m playing. Mobile titles like Iron Marines feel more at home in my AR glasses than on my Z Fold 5’s awkward aspect ratio. Sea of Stars may have a retro look that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Super Nintendo, but it, too, is excellent in the virtual display. Even Monument Valley looks more impressive, stretched out across a wall.
Yet the experience of playing cinematic games is a whole different league. I love games like Life Is Strange, Twin Mirror, and Tell Me Why. I played Twin Mirror almost exclusively using my AR glasses, and it felt like a different game than playing it directly on my phone.
It’s almost funny that I first discovered developer Don’t Nod’s work via the Android port of Life Is Strange. Sure, it was technically the same game, but there is a reason we like playing games on the largest screen we can. It’s the same reason we go to a theater to see a film rather than watch everything on our phones. The bigger the screen, the more immersive the game experience.
4Surprisingly, It’s a Way to Save Money
Console gaming requires having both a console and a TV. It’s the cheapest on-ramp to gaming for many people since they already have a TV. I don’t have a TV, so I’d be starting from scratch. In either case,buying a large TV, even remotely as large as the virtual display in a pair of AR glasses, does not come cheap.
What about PC gaming? Well, that needs powerful hardware. You may need to buy a new laptop or build a desktop rig, withpowerful CPUs and GPUsdriving the cost up. A high-quality gaming monitor can set you back even further.
On the other hand,cloud gamingon your existing PC or phone is about as cheap as it gets, especially if you’reusing NVIDIA GeForce Now to stream Steam gamesyou caught on sale. Getting a pair of AR glasses to plug into your existing phone (assuming it’s compatible) is comparable to buying a TV or monitor. Can you get cheaper TVs and monitors? Sure. But if you want giant, OLED versions of either one, you will end up spending more than I did on these glasses, which cost me around $450.
5Wide Device Compatibility
My AR glasses work with any device that can export video over a USB-C port. For me, that means my phone. For you, thatcan mean a Steam Deckor a Nintendo Switch. I’ve embraced cloud gaming, but there’s no need for you to do the same if you have an extensive game library on either of those devices.
You can even plug AR glasses into your PC if you’re comfortable gaming at your desk and want a different visual experience. Or, if you’re wedded to your console gaming library, you can even unplug your system from your TV and use an adapter to connect it to AR glasses instead.
Some of these setups are obviously more clunky than others, but the option is there. Once the glasses are on your face, it’s not like you’re really looking at your awkward arrangement of devices and cables anyway.
Some AR glasses have a dedicated hub that can stream games for you if you don’t want to bother connecting to your existing hardware. However, in the case ofXReal’s Beam Pro, the hub is essentially an Android phone without the phone bits.
Ultimately, gaming on AR glasses isn’t for everyone. Wearing glasses can get tiring, especially if it isn’t an ideal fit. The display doesn’t offer as high a resolution, and the picture quality can suffer if the alignment with your eyes isn’t exactly right. And 4K gaming is out of the question.
Yet, for me, gaming and AR glasses are the perfect fit.
