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IllumiRoom To Take Gaming Visuals Outside the Box and Onto the Living Room

Posted by samzenpus on from the time-to-play dept.

cylonlover writes "At CES in January, Microsoft Research teased its IllumiRoom concept, which involves projecting an image around a TV screen to enhance video games with additional visuals. Unfortunately, the company didn't offer much info beyond a short video that briefly showed it in action. But the team behind the project recently showed up at the CHI 2013 conference in Paris with some more in-depth details about how IllumiRoom will not only expand the game screen, but completely alter the appearance of your living room."

5 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. No thanks. by Seumas · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think I speak for most gaming enthusiasts when I say "focus on hardware that will be more robust for a better part of this next generation and the games that will be on it and skip the gimmicks".

    1. Re:No thanks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      nope, I don't think you speak for the majority at all. gimmicks like kinnect, move, wiimote etc I can definitely live without, but something that significantly enhances gaming atmosphere and visuals is something that would definitely be a step forward.

    2. Re:No thanks. by bloodhawk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      not so sure you do speak for most. certainly not me. I like the idea of enhancing gaming visuals beyond the borders of the television, not everyone cup of tea I am sure, but I think it is actually a rather appealing advancement. I agree skip the gimmicks but I don't think better visuals is a gimmick.

    3. Re:No thanks. by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think I speak for most gaming enthusiasts when I say "focus on hardware that will be more robust for a better part of this next generation and the games that will be on it and skip the gimmicks".

      No. Just... No. That demo absolutely rocked, and I would buy that in a frickin' heartbeat if it actually works as shown there.

      And I say that as someone who already uses a projector as my "TV" screen - But while it works well for field of vision, it fails in that you can either sit close and have low resolution at the center of your vision, or further away and you effectively get a similar angular size as a TV up close except you don't need to sit on top of the screen. Something that combines both - A bright, high-res macular view, combined with an immersive peripheral field? Awesome. Simple awesome.

      Hate all you want, but as a long-time Nintendo fan, that would count as my first XBox.

  2. That's pretty interesting, but.. by OhANameWhatName · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is Microsoft research. They do come up with cool things, the cool things just never make it to market. And needless to say, Microsoft developing the product for their own platform will result in a middling device.

    Cool? Definitely. Improve the gaming experience? More than likely. Reality? Not even remotely close.