- Aw, Kelsey, you're a porg.
You're a porg!
Hey!
(screeching)
- [Kelsey] Did I do it?
- That was amazing.
We're here at Disney's Grand Central Creative Campus
in Glendale, California, and today we get to play
Star Wars: Jedi Challenges.
- Disney invited us here to play this video game.
How? Why?
I don't know.
I don't care.
I'm the ultimate fangirl of both Disney and Star Wars.
- Disney got our midichlorian blood results
and we've got, like, a really high midichlorian count
for force in tune, so.
We can play the game, we're gonna take some Jedi Challenges.
- Star Wars is all about immersion,
and so this is actual immersion.
They're gonna have to drag me out of this place
kicking and screaming.
- We're going to the secret lab,
and we're gonna meet with some of the people who were
involved in making the game, and they can give us
some deeper insight when they created
this world of imagination.
- Welcome to Disney's secret lab.
- Thanks for having us.
- I work on the Connected Experiences Team here at Disney.
We bring together physical and digital products
to bring to folks at home.
Jedi Challenges is an augmented reality experience.
And we were really excited about
the potential to tell stories in augmented reality.
Augmented reality has been a big part of Star Wars
since the first film.
Princess Leia asking for help.
You remember holo-chess on the Millennium Falcon.
Those were all our great inspiration for
what would it be like to deliver
this experience of Star Wars.
You are going to be fighting with a light saber.
Experiencing being a strategic commander
in our strategic combat experience.
- [Kelsey] Now you and you!
I don't know if there's, like, a way to strategize.
I'm one of those Leeroy Jenkins type of game players.
- And you're also gonna be experiencing holo-chess.
- Nope.
Poor Chewbacca.
- In order to bring this experience to everyone at home,
we worked with our partner at Lenovo
to bring you the hardware.
The light saber, a head set, and the tracking beacon.
And that system works together to deliver the experience.
(laughing)
- I'm in space, and also I'm here.
I'm here and in space.
- It's pretty amazing to have, like, a star system
just open up in front of your eyes in the living room.
It was kinda like when Han Solo
in The Force Awakens pulls up that star map.
Rebellion.
Luke, the force.
Jedi.
It's all true.
- You're gonna use your smartphone.
And that will reflect the image in front of you,
so that you can see the real world around you,
see people around you.
- Hey Brandon.
You wanna play some holo-chess with me?
Come on.
You sure?
- And you're not closed off like you are in VR.
- [Kelsey] It's like he's in my hand!
- But you can also see the images in front of you
that you're playing against.
- Yeah, how's that feel, you like that?
Yeah, Aw, I'm doing great.
- My name is Caleb, and I'm the producer
on all the video games for Jedi Challenges.
I will start with our headlining experience
which is with duels.
- So you're gonna wanna look and find the planet Nabu.
- (laughs) I'm sorry, that is so cool.
Oh I found Hoth!
Don't wanna go there, too cold.
- You know Leia's costume where she goes
into Jabba's palace.
Solo, you have come out of hibernation sleep.
- It was really important to us to make sure
that the light saber was electric quality.
- This is gonna be the moment guys, ugh.
Oh my god! (laughs)
So cool!
- We really just took a lot of time to make sure
that we'd got the right metallic feel and look to it.
(laughing)
It's actually weighted to make sure
it feels better in your hands.
It's got force feedback.
- You know, it's got nice weight to it.
Do people throw it in action?
- [Man] People do.
You should not.
Okay, you did.
- We spend a lot of time and focus to make sure
that that was something the fans would really enjoy.
- Oh shit!
Sorry!
- I'm not afraid, you're afraid!
Bring it on!
Son, oh shoot.
- One of the things we wanted to do
is fill the fantasy of being a Jedi
and actually fighting against Darth Vader,
and fighting against Darth Maul,
and Grand Inquisitor, and all these characters
that you've seen on film, and you've probably played
in other video games, but you've never
gotten to fight them with your own hands.
- Get some get you some!
It is so funny to have your friends all around you,
and then meanwhile, Darth Maul's also there.
Comin' at ya, lookin' mad.
Which feels accurate, I don't think we'd get along.
- Yeah, come on.
Wow, okay!
These are obviously realistic Jedi noises.
Chop chop chop chop chop chop.
- We have a really cool system that tells you
when to block, but it's really
up to the player's skill in order to succeed.
- [Man] Pokin' ya.
- I was trying to chop him in half, Obi-Wan style.
- [Darth Maul] Your fears makes you weak.
- The actual fighting in the game was fantastic.
He's got two blades, I can handle that.
I've got the Force on my side.
I'm taking this very seriously.
- The headset itself has two cameras on it.
And those cameras are tracking the light in the room.
- Gettin' low in health, here we go, here we go, here we go.
Doin' this.
I'm gonna save the Jedi counsel.
Suck it. - You did it.
- Suck it, I did it! - Oh my god!
That was so satisfying!
Oh my gosh, I'm a Jedi!
- I won, handily.
I feel like I fought valiantly, bravely.
My legend will be told across multiple galaxies.
I feel very cool right now.
I'm assuming I look very cool.
- That was great, I'm real sweaty now, though.
- And just like the movies, the Jedi were also generals,
so we gave the reigns to the players to be a Jedi general.
- [Man] I'll move him there.
You're stationed here now.
Thank you for your service, there you go over there.
- Oh my god, look at the little guy who's trying
to bring down my laser!
Not today, buddy, I got a squad.
I'm gonna bite you.
Yeah, get 'im!
I put him on the front lines, I'm a little bit of a jerk.
- You get to command armies from all these
different eras of Star Wars.
We have the Public Army, of the prequels.
The Rebels, of the original trilogy,
and also The Resistance.
- Oh my god, it's a baby Rey, she's so small!
Uh-oh, uh-oh, she just disappeared!
- This is, like, my childhood dream of, like,
what you want action figures, like, to be.
- Oo, it fell on me!
- [Woman] (mumbles) is forced to fall back.
- But one of the things we do have is what
Chewbacca's favorite game was, which is holo-chess.
- Alright, collecting this guy, moving over here.
You know a basic intro pawn-war move.
Tracking.
Oh no!
Guy just shot me with some goop.
- We created a Porg Island.
- Where is it?
Where's, (laughs).
It's so pure!
Hi!
Oh! Whoa, whoa whoa!
You get a fish, you get a fish,
you get a fish, you get a fish!
We're gonna be featuring some recently released new content.
- Well you guys saw the fight in the last Jedi.
- The fight?
You don't need to say any more.
- There's the praetorian guard which are clad in red armor.
And they're really special, they're very elite.
And so you get to actually fight
a couple of those characters.
- This one'll go a little bit faster,
and there's gonna be another guard that pops up.
So it's two on one.
- Bring it.
- Let's do this.
It's so cool.
- Wow, wow! - Ah.
- This light saber really is legit.
Oh, god, it starts already?
Do we get style points?
- That one's gonna make you dodge.
- Oh, okay.
- There you go.
- You can probably tell from the footage
I was very focused, because it's like you're really there.
You think that light sabers are all fun and games, but.
You cut a hand off man.
Cut it right off.
- This is so epic!
Okay, bring it.
Shit.
- Ha!
I am a sweaty mess.
You're like, oh it's just a game, like, whatever,
then as soon as its like left you're like, Left!
And you, like, throw yourself into the couch.
There I go, thinking with my light saber again.
This is my destiny!
- What's so exciting about experiencing Star Wars in AR?
- Just having it life sized in your space
is just really interesting.
- Oh, there's two of you now!
He brought in reinforcements 'cause he couldn't
handle how much Jedi I am!
- When you do land, like, a haa, huh, huh, huh,
like a good, like, string, like five or six blocks
back to back to back, against two people,
it's like, I could be a Jedi.
Yeah, whaddup?
Yeah, you're not so alive now, are ya?
- Hey little porgie.
Oh, hi.
It's my favorite customer.
- Oh, hi, porg.
- You do look a little silly,
because no one can see what you're seeing,
you kinda look like a crazy person.
Being that person on the other side of it,
it's pretty dang fun.
Oh no!
I've left the world of imagination
and I'm in the real world now, this is terrible!
- When you're playing a regular game,
like, on your console, even if you're really into it,
you know, you'll take a break, and check your inventory.
There's none of this.
This cuts out all of that.
This is like, your ass is on the line,
every second that you're playing.
It lends an energy to the game that I think is really cool
and kinda unique to AR.
(laughing)
- Oh, he did that!
There's just something really cool about
being able to be inserted into a world that you like,
or like a game.
I was the hero of my own story.
It wasn't about Luke Skywalker.
It was about Kelsey Peachkay
and she was the hero of the galaxy.
Watch out Rey, watch out Kylo, there's a Jedi in town.
Kelsey Peachkay: Jedi Master.
- I like porgs, but I don't like too many porgs.
Like, I liked 'em when they showed up
in The Last Jedi, but that one point was like,
guys, you're kidding me with these porgs.
They're cute.
But I coulda done with, like, 35% less porgs.