Merge was already the maker of one of our favorite mobile VR headsets, the friendly and purple foam Goggles, and then it went ahead and took on AR with the Cube. Now it's trying to break down barriers with its new accessory.
The 6DoF Blaster (yes, that's the real name) is a purple toy gun on which you dock your iPhone or Android phone onto the Blaster. The phone then becomes a portal to a virtual world with 6 degrees of freedom tracking, so you can move, duck, dive and dodge in the game world by moving in real life. It's not quite as immersive as having a headset on of course, more of an interesting new AR/VR hybrid idea.
So to explore the virtual world, you'll need to walk around in the real one. There are also four buttons for controlling various aspects of the game.
Merge has built a dev kit so that developers of mobile VR and AR experiences can build their stuff for the Blaster. It's also releasing specs so that manufacturers can make accessories for the device.
The company isn't just done there though, it's also announcing the Merge Mini, a smaller AR/VR headset that's meant for kids age 10 and up. It's also built for smaller hands and will retail for less than $30 when it comes out this summer.
As for the Blaster, that'll also arrive in Summer 2018, with pricing yet to be announced.
How we test
By Husain Sumra
Husain joined Wareable in 2017 as a member of our San Fransisco based team. Husain is a movies expert, and runs his own blog, and contributes to MacRumors.
He has spent hours in the world of virtual reality, getting eyes on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR.
At Wareable, Husain's role is to investigate, report and write features and news about the wearable industry – from smartwatches and fitness trackers to health devices, virtual reality, augmented reality and more.
He writes buyers guides, how-to content, hardware reviews and more.