John Madden comes on an AR app for the Super Bowl Experience. With the NFL Super Bowl LIII only nine days away, preparations for that yearly contest of pro football’s best are now in full steam. The betting circles are busy formulating the odds of victory for either the New England Patriots or the Los Angeles Rams, on their first Super Bowl meeting since XXXVI when the rams were still in St. Louis.
The advertisers are finalizing their special commercials while the halftime performers are rehearsing. But there is also one event, related to Super Bowl but happening elsewhere, that is stirring up some attention.
It's an augmented reality experience at the Pro Football Hall of Fame centered on legendary figure John Madden.
Madden’s Hall of Fame bust will talk to Super Bowl Experience visitors.
Sport Techie reports that an incredible tech celebration of John Madden that will coincide with the buzz of Super Bowl LIII is being cooked up by an AI startup from San Francisco. It will be featured first at the Super Bowl Experience in Atlanta, Georgia from January 26 to February 6.
This attraction will utilize a downloadable AR app similar to Nintendo-Niantic’s “Pokémon Go.” When an iOS or Android device using the app is focused on the bronze Hall of Fame bust of John Madden, it will “come to life” to answer questions about his career.
StatMuse is an up and coming tech firm with financial backing from Disney itself, specializing in AR development. By building off from their existing work to enable Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to answer sports-related trivia, they have created an online AR app featuring up to two hours of dialogue recorded from Madden.
He will talk trivia regarding his career as Oakland Raiders coach, NFL commentator and sportscaster, as well as being the face of a long-running NFL videogame series named after him. Madden also provided motion capture of his face, used to create the AR rendition of his bust.
AR-animated Madden bust is a realization of a humorous joke
The idea of having an AR app animate John Madden’s Hall of Fame bust while talking about football was, according to USA Today, based off a joke from his speech during his enshrinement at Canton, Ohio back in 2006. He claimed that the busts of the inductees inside would come alive and talk to each other after the hall closes for the night.
Madden’s is among several busts that are temporarily on display at the Super Bowl Experience leading up to Super Bowl LIII. The app only works when the device is focused on the Madden bust. The AR attraction will move to the Hall of Fame in Canton when Madden’s bust is returned there.
