Illumiroom

[Luke]

Whoa:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/15443 ... er-feature

[dsheinem]

I'd heard about this for a while but seeing that video was really something. Very, very cool. Since this is being developed by MS and will likely be an exclusive type of hardware, my interest in the next Xbox is now much much higher than it was before.

[Luke]

A friend of mine just emailed me with this:

"MS already clarified this is not ready for the next xbox. Too bad but I'm sure it will be a periphery available for purchase."

Not sure if he is correct or not.

[Retrodude]

Meh. It seems more like an expensive gimmick than a real step forward. TV Tropes has a name for this: Revenue Enhancing Devices

I seriously hope people won't be fooled, but I know such thinking is pointless cause it'll sell a ton of units regardless of whether the final product is good or bad. And if it's bad, you'll see people defending it no matter what to try and justify the amount of money they spent on it.

At least the Wii U's gimmick makes sense (using the gamepad as an options and/or map screen so you don't have to pause the game or go into a submenu). This just seems like MS is trying too hard.

[dsheinem]

Meh. It seems more like an expensive gimmick than a real step forward. TV Tropes has a name for this: Revenue Enhancing Devices

I seriously hope people won't be fooled, but I know such thinking is pointless cause it'll sell a ton of units regardless of whether the final product is good or bad. And if it's bad, you'll see people defending it no matter what to try and justify the amount of money they spent on it.

At least the Wii U's gimmick makes sense (using the gamepad as an options and/or map screen so you don't have to pause the game or go into a submenu). This just seems like MS is trying too hard.

take this fanboy horse shit elsewhere. not all new tech is a "gimmick" that people will buy based on branding. if you don't see the appeal, fine...but it isn't an inherently bad idea or somehow "trying too hard". Let's at least wait to see how this is actually utilized by game devs before passing judgemnet, shall we? We can criticize the Kinect, Move, or Wii U screen based on its actual usage at this point. By contrast, we don't know how/if this device might pan out, nor do we know if it will be a high-margin "revenue enhancing device". So just stop.

[Erik_Twice]

It's a very smart concept. As someone who has a triplehead setup I can tell you, having peripherial vision makes games much more inmmersive. But, of course, triplehead setups requires several screens, which is expensive. What they are tring to do is to offer a cheaper, less powerful alternative which is a great goal.

Now there are two problems with this: One is that projectors are very expensive and the second one is that the effects can't be too amazing because the games are made to the limits of the hardware, not a fourth of it.

[isiolia]

Now there are two problems with this: One is that projectors are very expensive and the second one is that the effects can't be too amazing because the games are made to the limits of the hardware, not a fourth of it.

The two of those factors taken together could provide a way that the system could actually be feasible.

A relatively low resolution projector that can get away with a lower brightness level could possibly work. In turn, the level of processing needed for the picture data would be lower - or could be offloaded to a cheap SOC.

Main cost concern would likely be bulbs, though LED lightbulbs have gotten better, maybe that would be sufficient.

This + Kinect makes me wonder if a consumer/commodity CAVE might be possible with it.

[CRTGAMER]

An interesting concept. I wonder if lighting up the furniture around the HDTV might distract from soaking into a game? I keep my room dark when gaming or watching a movie for this reason. However, it looks likes at times the Illumiroom works. The extended lighting such as the Starfield example, where the furniture does not show looks great!

Would this image be better just using a full wall screen?

[irixith]

Whoa. I thought the extended FOV was neat, but I was completely captured by it with the lighting mimicking what was going on in the game, followed by items falling out of the TV.

That's pretty fucking awesome stuff right there.

[Nemoide]

This definitely looks like it could be really cool.

...but I'm not sure if I'll ever have enough space to properly have it set up! D: