AfterZoom infects your world with science

Sucker that I am for augmented reality stuff, here’s a little bit about AfterZoom from Abylight, coming pretty soon to DSiWare. As is the trend these days, the outer camera on the DSi functions as your portal to a world of critters to catch, care for and battle. The difference here is that much of what you’re doing is based on both biology and chemistry; so much so that Abylight has been awarded a part-grant from The Ministry of Culture of the Spanish government, where the developer is located.

Snap a photo of something around you with your inexplicable DSi “microscope” and, at varying levels of zoom, you’ll find elements to harvest and organisms to capture. By visiting the Chemical Lab you can use real chemistry formulas to mix up new elements to both nurture and evolve the organisms you’ve captured and cataloged in the Sample Bank. That’s the Tamagotchi part: checking in after several hours to feed and interact with your bacterial companions. The one-on-one battling comes into play when you find a wild organism that’s too strong to capture straight away. You’ll have to choose the right creature from your Sample Bank to match the stamina and strike force of the wild bacteria.

I like science and I like augmented reality trickery. I don’t know that I’ll be sinking my time into wrangling the bacteria of the world but I like what they’re doing with AfterZoom. See some more over here.