Microsoft unveiled Illumiroom at CES earlier this week and it’s one of those, “you need to see it to believe it”, type of products. The announcement came with a trailer that shows exactly what they have in mind for the future of gaming. According to Microsoft’s official site, Illumiroom uses a Kinect paired with a projector to “augment the area surrounding a television screen with projected visualizations to enhance the traditional living room entertainment experience.”
This is huge news, not just for gaming, but for visual entertainment as a whole. We’ve all seen the amazing applications 3D can have, so now imagine if that depth spread out from your television to your entire living room. Peripheral vision has always been absent in first person, but now you’ll have the entire landscape projected against your wall. Towering skyscrapers will loom over you in full view while standing at their base. Even weather effects will become more realistic as it really seems like it’s snowing in your house. There is no price tag on this yet as it is still a prototype, nor is it clear whether or not it will be built in with the new Xbox 720. Hopefully we will get to see some games running on it in the near future!
While neat, PC had peripheral vision stuff with 5 monitor support for a while. I also hate to sound like I’m poo-poo’n this (because it’s nifty), but I still would rather have VR…
At this point time, it’s a little bit more feasible than full-fledged VR. We all want VR, but that technology still has a long way to go.
So fascinating. Imagine how magical it would feel to a child growing up with these sorts of gaming experiences. The most I had as a kid was one of those night sky projectors. This takes it to the next level!
I suppose it’s just another great example of games taking virtual reality and reaching back into waking reality. Fascinating stuff. Will definitely consider picking up this tech when it becomes affordable.
I know! I could just imagine being a little kid and playing a real good flight simulator with this. It’s definitely a huge step in the right direction as far as VR goes. It’s affordable and brings this idea into a more mainstream perspective. I can’t wait to see how developers incorporate this into game design.
It’s neat, but overall rather silly. The one thing that this sort of tech does make me excited for, however, is the idea of finally adding some sort of peripheral vision to first person games. I think that could be a really cool way of seeing this implemented into actual gameplay.
It’s a neat concept, but unfortunately not very practical. If you had an ideal setup it might actually be pretty impressive, but it seems very hard to coordinate, the TV, Kinect, and projector. Hopefully this leads to a stronger push for VR, that’s the ultimate gaming goal.
Yeah, agreed. I am more interested in Valve’s interest in biometrics and gaze tracking than anything.
I forget who was working on in, but there was a team that was completely redesigning the way game polygon maps and textures work. Instead of polygons they were using points and could define objects down to smallest detail. They also promised it would use a fraction of the system’s power.
I’m excited for all this new ideas. Hopefully developers can start implementing them soon.
The gaze tracking could completely change the way first-person games work. Instead of rotating a stick to look, you simply just look in that direction. Pretty phenomenal stuff.
The point thing sounds cool.
Yeah, I really like the idea for something like tablets where you don’t really have the control. I’d love to see a good first person space sim with it too. It would help give that feeling of being in a real cockpit a lot more.
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Reblogged this on The Dogg Kennel and commented:
Do we need peripheral vision technology in gaming? Possibly in things like First Person Shooters, I can see a benefit. Also in Flight Sims. But this does feel to me very much like a gimmick that is more style over substance.
Interesting! It seems like a step in the right direction. One step closer to augmented gaming. It’s exciting to think of the possibility once the technology is capable. I await the day we can put the game world around us,
Augmented reality is definitely the future of gaming. This seems like a step in the right direction and I truly hope this inspires others to implement this type of technology.
-Mileson