Microsoft HoloLens to be available for $3,000 -- but only to app developers
Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, left, smiles as he tries on a HoloLens device with colleagues Alex Kipman, right, and Terry Myerson following an event in Redmond, Wash., on Jan. 21.
Microsoft’s augmented reality headset HoloLens will go on sale to app makers for $3,000 sometime in the first three months of 2016.
They’ll be able to start developing apps for the new device before it becomes available to consumers at an undisclosed date, Microsoft announced Tuesday at an event in New York City. The company also unveiled a new game for the “space-age technology,” as Microsoft executive vice president Terry Myerson called it.
HoloLens, which doesn’t require any wired connections, wraps around the head like ski goggles. It has a semi-transparent high-definition screen in the front, which creates the illusion that virtual objects are projected in the real world.
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In the new game, “Project Xray,” spider-like monster robots barge through physical walls, and laser fire blasts holes in the walls. A physical wand controller held in the hand appears as a gauntlet or a shield when the headset’s on; Microsoft calls these “wearable holograms.” Sensors in the headset map the virtual action to the room the user is in, so every experience is customized to the real-world environment.
Myerson said employees have been trying “Xray” at home with their families.
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