Atli Mar shows off The Machines from Directive Games.
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The Machines is Directive Games’ augmented reality game for iOS

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 1 min

Directive Games showed off its new augmented reality game, The Machines, as an exclusive for iOS today.

Directive Games CEO Atli Mar showed off the tank battle game at Apple’s big iPhone 8 introduction event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. As he spoke, another man held an iPad as if it were a camera. As he pointed, The Machines overlaid an image of a battle on the real world.

“It’s an amazing evolution in how games are played and experienced,” Mar said.

Atli Mar shows of The Machines.

The Machines debuts this month on iOS. It uses Apple’s ARKit technology and has 4K effects. Mar said that you can move around and get a better view of the action, such as looking at a tank firing into a cave.

“You can use the position in the real world to gain a tactical advantage,” he said. “Your are not just controlling the game. You are in the game.”

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.