The lights are on
Some concepts need to be seen to be understood and appreciated. On paper, Microsoft's Illumiroom could be considered laughable. In an age of high definition OLED televisions, projectors shouldn't be exciting, and they certainly shouldn't be able to make a viewing experience immersive. In five minutes, Microsoft can probably change your mind.
Unlike Microsoft's Kinect, which requires a wide play space in front of your television for motion capture, Illumiroom flips that technology around and pairs it with a projector, seemingly usable in a variety of room configurations. The Kinect is used for sensing screen activity and understanding the environment around the primary viewing space (most often a television).
From there, users have a choice of overlays (some of which require developer input). The impact on the viewing experience varies with options for the occasional effect like a laser sight breaking the television perimeter, a sharp edge accent for surrounding environment, and full screen extension.
Further, the Illumiroom can be used to change the texturing in the play space. In the video below, the color palette on the entertainment center is changed and even made to look cel-shaded. Take note of the shockwave effect during the Portal portion of the demonstration.
Illumiroom was first shown at this year's Consumer Electronic's Show in January. It's still only in the proof of concept phase, but if practical, could make its way to mass production. Just make sure to turn the lights off before you turn the device on.
[Source: Microsoft Research]
Did anyone think that the Radial Wobble feature could be used for a drunk simulator? Maybe teach someone the effects of drinking too much? Trademark.
This looks cool.
Why do we need optical illusions while we play games, whats the point.The only thing that is semi interesting is extension of the view point but how good the video on screen is compared to the projector transfer looks like ***. This doesn't advance gaming, Microsoft's mind is in the wrong place for innovation.
I like it, I won't buy the next xbox based off of this unless it won't have to be always online. I think the illuminiroom could be really cool for gaming but if it's done wrong people will get sick.
It actually looks pretty neat. A very promising concept.
Wow, this looks a lot cooler than before.
It's probably going to have flaws, and seems silly- but it's still pretty neat.
I would only ever use this in a bare room with my TV on the wall. Every piece of furniture in that room looked more as a hindrance than an addition. I get what they are going for, I get the appeal, but seriously when I playing an FPS I don't care to have the added distractions.
Ok, this is starting to look kinda cool. Hopefully it works as well as they say it will and have enough games that use this tech...
im more impressed with this then before! imagine having peripheral vision in racing games,or FPS like they were showing. imagine playing a mech game, and really feeling like your inside the machine. soooo many possibilities, specially with 3D! very exciting.
Looks cool I guess, but the only way I will get this is if it comes with the next Xbox and I highly doubt that it will. And I don't even know if I will get the next Xbox.
Honestly, it looks kind of annoying and distracting :(
We need this so much.
Man I want one. I hope a lot of developers make use of this tech in the future.
probably cost a fortune...
Imagine the possibilities of this tech with a horror video game. Yes, please.
Seems like it would have some potentially cool applications. Most of what they showed seemed pretty useless to me, though.
One person below pointed out that for stealth games, having that extra immersion could really be cool when you slink into the shadows. I think it would be the little things like that that would help it, but it would have to be pretty widely implemented for it to be worth it I think.