Xbox IllumiRoom Projector Splashes Game Content All Over Room

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Uber Waddles

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May 13, 2010
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This is perfect! I remember thinking to myself, "You know what? I just spent a boatload of cash on a new, high definition television set. What I really want from my games is to bleed elements off of my TV in a low resolution manner."

I like games. I like games cheap. This is just an expense that companies would absorb for what is essentially an annoying feature. I don't want my living room to be the center of attention. I don't want my bookcase and Pikachu hat to become part of a game. I want whats contained in my TV to be part of the game. Everything else is just a waste of resources - something I'll have to absorb as the consumer, for what ammounts to a gimmick.

Lets not also forget how much of a pain in the ass having something for your TV mounted on your coffee table is. First off, if your in a room with no coffee table, or a non-traditional setup, then screw you! You're not getting the functionality you paid for. Second off, running a cord out from my TV across my living room is a, survey says, TRIPPING HAZARD! Thats why people loved the transition to wireless. Thats why most consoles and DVD players are situated next to or under the TV. It essentially says "Hey, do you have a toddler, cat, or dog in the house? Well screw you buddy, looks like you'll be dealing with broken peripherals and the console getting yanked from the TV set."

Its a cool bit of technology, much like the Kinect, but like the Kinect, I have to ask myself "What does this add to my experience? Why should I absorb the cost of manufacturing this thing?" To me, much like the kinect, it falls within the Uncanny Vally of peripherals. With the Kinect, we couldn't mimic exact movements completely (like putting your foot out or running in place translating to movement). It feels unsettling to us because its TOO close to reality, but not close enough. Same with this. It is immersion breaking to look into the foreground and and notice that its not the game, just the game plastered on your uneven living room. Its immersion breaking to see a first person shooter that makes the whole room into the screen, but not see the characters feet or other body parts - that FPS scene in general just makes it look like a floating hand with a gun.

The bullets flying our the screen is actually amazing for immersion, and a lot of really cool stuff could be done with it - but that alone is not worth the cost to develop. And its something that any 3D TV could already do.

For the love of fuck and shark cheddar cheese, just focus on games and multimedia. We don't need gimmicks. We don't need gotcha's. We don't need this or that or a yellow hat. We need games. No fancy science-fair hardware will change that.
 

CriticalMiss

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Jan 18, 2013
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I'm calling it, in two to three years this will becoming a cutting edge way to order pizza through your console.
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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Everyone at Microsoft seems to believe that all gamers live in mansions with spartan rooms the size of football pitches. First came the Kinect which needed a minimum floor area of an aircraft hangar to work properly and now this, a device which requires ten cubic miles of blank, featureless wall space and the headroom to hang a massive projector?

I just want to play good video games! *Sobs*
 

AKDread

Yabadabadoo
Jun 1, 2012
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Proverbial Jon said:
Everyone at Microsoft seems to believe that all gamers live in mansions with spartan rooms the size of football pitches. First came the Kinect which needed a minimum floor area of an aircraft hangar to work properly and now this, a device which requires ten cubic miles of blank, featureless wall space and the headroom to hang a massive projector?

I just want to play good video games! *Sobs*
*pats back*

we all do
 

sgtleeemery

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Mar 29, 2011
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I'm a bit surprised by all the negativity surrounding this.

Sure, some of the modes are a bit gimmicky but I really liked the option to desaturate the colours in your room and some of the motion enhancing stuff was quite nice. I can imagine some developers making nice use of this gizmo.

I'm just glad Microsoft aren't trying to add a tablet to their controllers ;)
 

afroebob

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Oct 1, 2011
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Its nothing revolutionary or anything but its a cool idea. If I had a projector I'd definately use it those 2 or 3 times a year I play Xbox.
 

The Hungry Samurai

Hungry for Truth
Apr 1, 2004
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So much negativity. I believe that the next step of gamings evolution is an increased emphasis on augmented reality. This seems like a great way to bring AR to the living room without alienating everyone without a pair of whatever Microsofts google goggles analogue will be called. Wii U is doing a great job proving to the world that asynchronous gaming is probably not going to work out so this may be the next best thing.

It may need some tweaking but I'm impressed and excited to see more.
 

Mr_Terrific

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Oct 29, 2011
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Another gadget made for people with massive gaming areas? I see no problems with that...again.
 
Mar 26, 2008
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I really like the dynamic lighting effect for the driving game. That could work great. Some of the others I'm a bit dubious about, but at least they are thinking *puts on glasses* outside of the (X)box. Yeeeeeaaaah!
 

MorganL4

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May 1, 2008
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So.... Am I the only one who read this article, and immediately thought of the book Fahrenheit 451?


Also, I am certainly not prone to motion sickness, but watching that video gave it to me... So I think this is a no buy, or if I do buy it, a feature I won't use.
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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Aug 30, 2011
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That honestly looks pretty nice, my worries being that you have to sit halfway across the room to use it and that they consider putting a galaxy background around the TV a new gaming experience. And I hope self-calibrating is going to mean it works on corners.

But then again, ain't nobody gonna care bout dis if it's always online. Can't escape it Microsoft, youll have to play your hand eventually.
 

Sir Pootis

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Aug 4, 2012
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Why not just use a normal projector and cut out the middle-man? In the demo shown, I found myself only paying attention to the screen anyway, because that's where the important stuff's happening. It's more eye-strain inducing than anything else. I'll stick to supporting the Oculus Rift.
 

Smooth Operator

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Oct 5, 2010
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This is actually very neat stuff when done properly, i.e. with a canvas so your image isn't horrifically distorted, it's been done like a decade ago on expos for shits and grins.
Using just a projector seems like the better idea until you get down to the facts, projectors are horribly expensive, and even top of the line stuff was never made for gaming so they have terrible refresh rates, really low resolutions, and contrast is just plain awful even in complete dark(not to mention during the day), also with daily gaming the bulbs would burn out within a year and they cost $300-500 each.
So using a monitor for the fine details you focus on and a projector for the peripheral vision is a sweet combo, obviously more as an occasional party piece then a straight upgrade.

Of course the proper setup doesn't need Kinect, or Xbox, or MS software, or MS all together... so this is why they are doing the more expensive horrid version that requires all that on top.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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This woudl work if i had a screen with absolutely no edges and a flat huge wall behind it. in all toher ocasions its terribly annoying feature. the only thing that could be good out of this is the "i can see more to the sides" part, but if it is the quality that we see in the video, then thats going to be good onyl for people who cant concentrate at all, ADHD guys.

Also, this looks like its using regular projection bulbs, so thats shelling out 100 dollars every 1 week-to-3-months depending on how much time you keep it on, due to very limited lifespan.

Mr.K. said:
also with daily gaming the bulbs would burn out within a year and they cost $300-500 each.
Faster. I was thiking of getting a projector for my movie watching. then i counted the price of bulb changes. It very likely would be spendong on bulbs alone more than i earn in a month. those things are ridiculously expensive if you need screen on for as long as i do. Thats why i liked CRTs, you could keep them on forever and they worked. Not that my current plasma one is bad, though i should be moving to LEDs to save power by now.
 

Alfador_VII

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Nov 2, 2009
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Not sure if this is more or less useful than Kinect itself. Complete waste of money and tech.

Also I'm not sure if it really would work in "any living room" It shows a very large TV, which a HUGE wall area beside it.

My TV's towards the corner of my room with a window pretty close to it, and what if you're in a very small room.
 

RevRaptor

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Mar 10, 2010
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Oh great another stupid gimmick wasn't the kinect enough of a failure. I've still got my one in the box, never even bothered to try it once. Stupid thing didn't even come with a TV stand. Not that the kinect work work with my room set up anyways, pretty sure this projector is not going to be able to adapt to a lot of common TV bedroom set ups. Not every one plays in their lounge.
 

MrBenSampson

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Oct 8, 2011
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What if someone wanted to use this and Kinect at the same time? The person's shadow would spoil the effect. Both of the Nextbox's gimmicks conflict with each other. Also, it sounds like a large expense for little benefit.