This may be the first time you've heard of LyteShot but I've heard a few things and had the pleasure of seeing things up close and personal at CES here this week. Nothing in action outside of the below Kickstarter video for the gaming platform but if you can use your imagination, as the platform wants, then you can see how this could be the next great addition to gaming; both video and physical. If you follow along here you may get to understand and have a hand in bringing the whole thing to light. Pun intended.

LyteShot is a new gaming platform that sounds a bit like laser tag mixed with your cell phone but can be so much more when you think about it. There is a handheld device that syncs up to your phone and LyteShot receiver. The handheld device having accelerometers and GPS in it to keep track of not only when the trigger is pulled or if the device is swung or thrust. Of course also the physical location. All of which can be fed into your phone to add some augmented reality to the mix or Epson Moverio BT-200 smart glasses if so be your choice. This is where things can go much further than your basic laser tag kind of games.

Seeing as you can 3D print any object around the LyteShot handheld device and then mix that with whatever style of game or set of rules a programmer can think of, you can see real world games getting a nice easy tracking solution or even some really cool interactive experiences made. To better put this in perspective, think of a Boffer LARP (foam weapons and birds seed packets) where the GM can make sure that all weapons deal the correct damage to the target or force "wizards" to wave their wands using the LyteShot. Then if one is crafty adding in the AR animations and overlays to better immerse players in the real world while making sure everything is fair.

To that level, think of the interactive experiences that could be crafted. Like a zombie run where you could "defend" yourself and not just run. One of the issues I've always found with The Walking Dead Escape is that I can't attack the zombies and just have to keep moving. Something like this could add to that experience even though not directly a game. Of course these are ideas in a grander scale than most consumers may be able to afford as it looks like one of each bundled together could run about $100 but that is all based on the recent Kickstarter campaign and its incentives.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for LyteShot and hope the campaign is successful. Not to mention what could be built for the system moving forward. If getting up off the couch was the next big push for video gamers then this would be the next step from there toward holodecks most of us could hope for. Good luck LyteShot.