subject: Environment Projection In Gaming [print this page] A new patent that was filed by Microsoft shows your entire living room being transformed into a virtual game environment. The new technology is very likely to be part of the Xbox 720 and will be able to project the environment of a game you are playing onto the walls of your games room. The system is being referred to as environmental display. For Microsoft this would be taking the Xbox 360 Kinect to the next level, and something no other console has done before.
The environmental display is supposedly meant to tie in with Microsofts 3D Kinect glasses that have the ability to track where youre looking and create a 3D image.
Other than the projection system there is a 3D depth camera that emits infrared light to find a player and place you in the environment. The environmental immersion system that Microsoft will perhaps one day be developing is a remarkable feature, the Xbox 360 console was made even more successful with the release of the motion sensor Kinect, so is motion sensing the future for gaming?
This sounds very exciting and will take gaming to the next level. The idea of virtual reality has been around for the past two decades but it has never really taken off. Console developers have embraced high definition and now motion sensor technology instead. 3D gaming has also reared its head but gaming has yet to reach the levels of virtual reality. The idea of projecting an environment definitely seems to be taking the idea of virtual reality and making it a possibility but there are some drawbacks.
The Xbox 360 bundles together a hardcore gaming experience and with Xbox Kinect you can choose to play more active and fun games. One of the major flaws of this system we can see is the need to have an empty room with white walls? How many of us have a spare room in our house thats dedicated to our Xbox 360 console and has no furniture. Projecting an environment practically rules out the vast majority of gamers. People simply dont have a spare room and this is where things get tricky. Whenever virtual reality has been depicted in television or films, it has often been created via a headset of some sort. Only time will tell what Microsoft are planning with this patent but we are in for an interesting gaming future. It surely is a very intriguing concept, and one that may be developed for the next generation of Xbox consoles.
