The United States is gearing up to celebrate its 250th Independence Day on July 4th with a grand celebration. A project that combines history with cutting-edge gaming technology has been officially unveiled in downtown Manhattan, New York. The Gotham Center at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center recently announced a collaboration with the renowned game company Ubisoft and the tech team “Sugar Creative” to launch a new AR mobile application called “Echoes of Revolution: NYC”.
The app is set to hit the iOS and Android platforms by the end of this month. What makes this app unique is that the development team directly utilized the detailed historical world model from Ubisoft’s legendary game “Assassin’s Creed,” combining geolocation and AR technology to create a 90-minute digital walking tour of lower Manhattan for visitors.
When users download the app and stroll the streets of present-day Manhattan, their screens will seamlessly overlay the 1776 colonial-era New York streetscape onto modern buildings based on their geographic location. Visitors can not only visit the historic “Bowling Green,” where civilians and soldiers once united to topple the statue of the British king, but also witness historical events like General Washington holding secret meetings with the Sons of Liberty at “Fraunces Tavern,” or the British army imprisoning thousands of war captives on abandoned ships through their screens.
Peter Aigner, the director of The Gotham Center, pointed out that New York City’s central role in the American Revolutionary War has long been underestimated. This app successfully brings rich visual and immersive experiences to this “foundational” period of history. Transforming a “game engine” into a “history classroom,” this digital time machine is set to become one of the hottest cultural and tourism experiences in New York City this summer.