The Next Generation Sports - HADO Augmented Reality Techno Sports

[Media Invite]


Have you heard of Virtual Reality (VR)? I guess you might have. In VR, as the name implied, one is placed into a full-pledged virtual world after donning its goggles and headsets. VR is not restricted to games only, I have known of a pre-school enrichment centre which uses VR to teach young children. I have been invited to try the VR tool in the centre. Owing to my motion sickness, I did get nausea after a while. I guess I am meant to live in reality, not virtually. I am not cut to unplugged from the real world to 'live' in the stimulated world.

My niece, who is in her early 20s, came back from her Japan study trip, was raving about Augmented Reality (AR) and how it married a physical real-world environment with computer-generated perceptual information. She was actually referring to the digital sports that she saw in HADO Japan.


I caught no balls what she was sharing, because it was new to me, and I could not visualise it. Fortunately, we have a HADO Singapore here, right in the heart of Orchard Road - Scape, so it wasn't difficult for me to experience what AR is all about.



I went to HADO Singapore concept store in Orchard with my family and friends, eagerly wanting to try this out. Jasper, the owner, explained to me how AR works and how it is different from VR. HADO Singapore does not plant gamers into a full-fledged virtual world, but places virtual objects, in this case, exploding mushrooms, roaring dragons and virtual fireballs that one can sling into the real world instead. It encourages team-based game play, with teams either working together to take down virtual enemies or battling one another in virtual dodgeball. You gotta watch the videos I have attached here to really understand what I meant.



The first game we played was HADO Shoot.

Of all the 3 games in this concept store, this is the easiest to play and is suitable for all ages. All you need to do is to launch the fireballs at those poisonous mushrooms and cute-looking creatures that rush towards you and quash them one after another! 


The next game we tried was HADO Monster Battle. We needed to dodge against the Monsters and load the special powers to overcome all of them. With all the squatting and swinging of arms, our limbs had started to feel the ache! What a way to bond! You get to play games and exercise together. It is so much better than sitting in front of the computer screen playing computer games!


The last game we played was HADO Digital Dodgeball. It is a player(s) vs player(s) friendly match. It is a pleasant way to beat each other up without having to do so actually :O. And if you are game enough, you could join HADO Singapore for their free weekly HADO trial as they seek to build the players for regular in-house tournament monthly in the road up to Rookie, Gladiator and Singapore Cup so as to gear up for the HADO World Cup in December, at Tokyo (no less)!


At the end of all 3 games, I didn't feel nausea at all! I was glad to make the trip down to Scape to visit HADO Singapore's concept store to experience for myself how AR works. It was educational for AJ and his friend as well, knowing that they are the generation living in the start of digital revelation.

Perhaps you may want to visit too? HADO Singapore is having a promotion this school holiday where the 5th player gets to play for free with every 4 paying players.




You may buy a one-time pass to play all three games in one session (Experience All Package), which takes about half an hour to complete, or pay for Ala Carte games. You may also host your child's birthday party there! There is no better way to expose the kids to technology and yet getting them to move about at the same time than this!


HADO Singapore



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