In January, Microsoft unveiled a proof of concept design for their IllumiRoom , which adapts the science of 3D mapping to Microsoft’s own Kinect sensors to “blur the lines between on-screen content and the environment we live in allowing us to combine our virtual and physical worlds.” While the company is keeping a tight lid on further details about the project, the IllumiRoom has sparked a lively debate about the future of gaming and the practicality of breaking the boundary between our television sets and the world around us. Microsoft is said to be withholding information on the IllumiRoom until the ACM SIGCHI Conference in Paris in April, where we’ll hopefully find out more about their plans to either develop the IllumiRoom as a consumer-friendly product or to use it as a jumping off point for further forays into the world of immersive gaming.

Loading

Immersion at a Cost

IllumiRoom as the Sign of Something Greater

While augmented reality might very well be the future of gaming, the concept of the IllumiRoom itself has been met with a largely lukewarm response. Because the IllumiRoom requires a Kinect motion sensor and a projector setup, it would certainly be a niche product, and a prohibitively expensive one at that – both for consumers and developers. Kinect users comprise only a portion of Xbox 360 and Windows PC owners and, of that group, one can assume that few would be up for taking on the added cost and cumbersome installation of a projector to make use of the IllumiRoom. Producing content for a system like the IllumiRoom might also prove to be problematic as it would require developers to focus a great deal of time, energy, and money on developing content specifically for a product with an admittedly limited customer base.The difficulties with practical implementation of the IllumiRoom aside, there’s also been mixed response to the display itself. Microsoft’s CES video shows the IllumiRoom being used with an action-packed first person shooter and a marginally less visually stimulating racing game. In both scenarios, the projected images never quite fully match the action happening on-screen and it wouldn’t be surprising if IllumiRoom usage left players severely distracted or nursing headaches from being visually overstimulated.Though 3D mapping allows for a less disruptive viewing plane than traditional projection technology, it still boils down to light being directed at surfaces that are uneven in texture and color and no amount of clever technological trickery will fool the eye into believing the crisp, vibrant images on the television screen are seamlessly blended with the projected images surrounding it, and that disparity could potentially be detrimental the gaming experience as a distraction. The IllumiRoom may blur the lines between screen and surroundings, but it’s still a far cry from erasing them.Introducing new technology to a customer base that is firmly set in its ways is an endeavor fraught with obstacles, particularly when a company asks people to adjust the way they view media. One need look no further than Peter Jackson’s experiment with 3D high frame rate cameras in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to see the sort of backlash that greets pioneering visual technology. While it’s no secret that consumers can be resistant to change, especially those with a vested interest in industries like cinema and gaming, the less than enthusiastic response to a film with 48 frames per second or Microsoft’s IllumiRoom cannot be brushed off as simply another instance of audience stubbornness.There’s a very good reason why technology that demands a new way of looking at things is often met with mixed reviews and no small number of headaches. After a lifetime of training our brains to process visual information in a certain way, it can be difficult to retrain our minds to adjust to exponentially large leaps in technology that require us to alter the way our eyes navigate imagery. It’s a steep learning curve, and the path will no doubt be riddled with failed experiments and impractical ideas, but the future of gaming might very well see the decentering of the television set as we move into the realm of augmented and virtual realities.The way we play games hasn’t changed overly much in the past several decades. Obviously, technological advances have progressed in exponential leaps and bounds since Atari blew everyone’s minds with Pong in the early 70’s but the basics remain the same. We sit in front of a screen and use handheld controllers to manipulate the action on said screen. Though far-reaching change at the consumer level is most certainly a long way off, immersive gaming, through augmented or virtual realities, might be the change we’ve all been waiting for.Microsoft isn’t the only company trying to stake out territory in the brave new world of reality-busting gaming technology. Oculus’s Rift, a virtual reality headset that made waves earlier this month , will offer gamers a chance to immerse themselves in artificial worlds in ways they’ve fantasized about since the heady days of our Tron-fueled dreams in the 1980s. Though IllumiRoom’s design calls for external projection of computer-simulated images as opposed to a headset, the concept of inserting the gamer into the world as an active participant rather than an observer remains powerful. Enterprising visual technology like the Rift and IllumiRoom provide ways of mentally incorporating a more full-bodied interactive experience that crashes through the boundaries of boxed in images. Microsoft’s idea of effacing the borders between screen and outside world is good and arguably vital, even if the implementation of IllumiRoom falls short of its goal.While Microsoft’s IllumiRoom might too bogged down with practical difficulties to be a successful venture in its own right, its development marks a change in the tides that just might signify a paradigm shift in gaming technology. Evolution is rarely, if ever, an evenly gradual process. Change happens slowly, inching along at a snail’s pace until suddenly, a period of punctuated equilibrium occurs. Fish hobble out of water on newly developed stubby legs. Mammals replace dinosaurs as the dominant land animals with the help of a calamitous asteroid. The development of products like Microsoft’s IllumiRoom and the Oculus Rift headset might be the earth-shattering event the gaming industry needs to jumpstart a new era in gaming technology.

Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and tech nerditry. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey