IllumiRoom concept. Extending the game beyond the screen portal. Adding ambience to peripheral vision. (via Microsoft demo video)
The next Xbox will probably make you feel 360 degrees of immersion, filling a 180-degree field of vision. Confirmation that the concept behind it will be included in the next game system has not been made official but Microsoft has made it publicly clear that they agree with Sony as to where the future of videogames is leading. Complete virtual immersion into an augmented reality environment.
The concept behind what could be Xbox (720?) is called IllumiRoom and a video demonstrating it was played at CES 2013. On the project's website, Microsoft says the video was has no post-production special effects but they also do not specify whether all the features seen (Tron-like room scan or voice recognition to make Xbox “go big”) are what the final system will be like. The company says this tech is still under development, but with similar videos coming from Sony and Nintendo’s Wii U, which already expands into augmented reality outside the TV screen, some speculate this technology could be much closer to release than anticipated.
The brief overview of the IllumiRoom setup says the system uses a Windows Kinect camera to scan the room in order to adjust video to the surface available for projection. The system will do this automatically so there is no need for custom installation or programming. A projector then converts not only the wall behind the TV set but the peripheral sections of floor and ceiling into extension of the on-screen video. This video is corrected for specific geometries and extends the actual scenery of the video games graphics, immersing you in a virtual environment completely.
IllumiRoom, or “peripheral projected illusions for interactive experiences”, produces immersion into an entire virtual environment, expands peripheral views to see enemies that used to be out of sight, and creates the illusion of motion, which could make for entirely new gaming experiences. Imagine, beyond the screen, flying in Star Fox’s ship, immersed in Halo’s lonely rings, or trudging through hell in the up and coming Doom games from id software.
Other leaks have revealed that the Kinect 2 project includes something called the “LiveWall,” which fits with the Illumiroom demo and leads some to dream of a touchless virtual game console. Although the idea is great for feeling more in the game, I ask the obvious question.. why not just use a projector and display ultra-HD on the wall? Still, I like the idea of treating the peripheral vision to game data.
Microsoft researcher, Shahram Izadi, said, "It is about drawing the physical world into the user interface and it's about the user interface coming out into the real world. It's about these two worlds colliding and merging together."
The Illumiroom website says to look for more details to be announced at ACM Chi 2013 in April. The next Xbox could be unveiled at E3 later this year. At which point we should see a research paper detailing the tech as is not uncommon after big Microsoft unveilings.... Oh, and a lot of people go crazy, which is also not uncommon.
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