Not virtual, but augmented reality?

I have spent the last few days browsing the Nintendo forums. It´s hard work to sift through the bulk of irrelevant posts and repeats. But I have come across a number of interesting posts. For instance, some people still believe that the ON video clip was real after all. Also, they were wondering if Aries - the name of the infamous blogger claiming to be an Ex-Nintendite - was an abbreviations of sorts. I remembered I had read something about that and googled it. Aries could well stand for Augmented Reality Immersion Entertainment System, or so it is claimed. Incidentally, augmented reality is exactly what is portrayed in the ON video. And this is a significant find, I believe. Because it´s the first time the two main rumour sources, who have up until now been completely separate und unrelated, are linked. In fact, they become one. Aries never mentioned the ON video, I believe. And in the clip, there was nothing that would have hinted at Aries. But augmented reality becomes the link between the two. For your benefit, I have copied an abstract of what the technology involves below. Read it and watch the video again. Exactly six minutes into the clip, you see the player´s bedroom transforming into a Metroid map. That is exaclty it. Read it for yourself - I´ll be back soon with more.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing area in virtual reality research. The world environment around us provides a wealth of information that is difficult to duplicate in a computer. This is evidenced by the worlds used in virtual environments. Either these worlds are very simplistic such as the environments created for immersive entertainment and games, or the system that can create a more realistic environment has a million dollar price tag such as flight simulators. An augmented reality system generates a composite view for the user. It is a combination of the real scene viewed by the user and a virtual scene generated by the computer that augments the scene with additional information.

Courtesy of Jim Vallino from the Rochester Institute of Technology