back to article Shift up, gran! Microsoft turns living room into AR game 'space'

Youtube Video Microsoft has expanded its IllumiRoom research project into RoomAlive – a demo that combines Xbox Kinect and projectors to turn any room into an interactive augmented reality "space". The RoomAlive demo is at the proof-of-concept phase, being a fairly low-budget-looking holodeck with games where you can whack at …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Off Topic

    Why haven't Microsoft come up with a slightly inferior alternative to YouTube that wins out due to it's integration with the dominant desktop OS?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Off Topic

      Because that technique isn't even working with Bing.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Off Topic

        "Because that technique isn't even working with Bing."

        Actually it is to a degree - Bing currently has about 19% of the US search market. Not quite up there with Google, but not to be sneezed at from nothing a few years ago.

        Bing is actually pretty good these days - DuckDuckGo is mostly Bing powered for instance!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Off Topic

          it's popularity is more to do with crapware bundled with apps that hijack the homepage and search providers with powered by bing search engines.

  2. sabroni Silver badge

    Looks Cool!

    I mean Boo! Down with Micro$oft!

  3. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    How cool is that ?

    the Holodeck inches closer ....

    1. VinceH
      Joke

      Re: How cool is that ?

      Well, the diameter of photos closer, anyway.

    2. GX5000

      Re: How cool is that ?

      Yeah I saw the Demo, He actually made the comparison, what a dolt.

      Shining bright lights that are reflections off the main screen has nothing to do with augmented reality.

      These corporate heroes can't see that the emperor is naked, and I'm sick of looking at him.

  4. Isendel Steel
    Trollface

    Perfect

    Now I can populate my room with my "friends"

  5. Khaptain Silver badge

    Prior Art

    I was doing this 30 years ago with pre-existing technology.. It was total immersion, with fantastic characters and unusual, read weird, story lines. The sounds were amazing and it was a full body experience. I could extremely portable and it didn't cost a fortune.

    What was this fantastic technology known as you ask : Lysergics I would respond.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Prior Art

      I was doing this 30yrs ago as well.......with LSD.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: Prior Art

        You do know what LSD is the acronym for ?

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: Prior Art

          Yes

          Limited Slip Diff

        2. Falmari Silver badge

          Re: Prior Art

          librae, solidi, and denarii

        3. stucs201

          Re: You do know what LSD is the acronym for ?

          Hmmm, that's a bit of an Enigma. Love, Sensuality, Devotion?

          1. sabroni Silver badge

            Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, honest!

  6. cambsukguy

    Yeah, but the Apple Research one is much, much cooler

    Oh yeah, forgot, just do some development and buy someone else's research if necessary.

  7. N2

    Wonderful

    Probably maps all your possessions for ad slinging at your browser or whatever else you have connected to 'tinterwebs.

    1. sabroni Silver badge

      Eh?

      Though it was MS, not Google.

  8. JDX Gold badge

    Clever but

    Surely getting a headset to work properly would allow for far more realism... a headset could still incorporate input from a real-world camera so users can be warned not to knock things over.

    1. Robert Helpmann??

      Re: Clever but

      A headset would also be better able to deal with surfaces that do not show projected images very well. My first impression of this was that it looked really cool. Then I realized that my living room does not have much in the way of plain white surfaces. The rug has a dark, complex pattern. The media center, desk and book shelves are stained wood. The sofa has a green plush upholstery. I think that it would be difficult to use this sort of setup in a environment similar to what I have.

      Also, having players use headsets would allow different players to see different things, which could be used to add depth to games.

      1. sabroni Silver badge

        Re: difficult to use this sort of setup in a environment similar to what I have.

        "All the content in RoomAlive is driven in real-time and dynamically adapts to the exact colour and geometry of the user's living room". Sounds like they're specifically trying to target that issue.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Clever but

      I'm kind of assuming headsets would for solitary home use, where as this Microsoft technology would work quite well in a more social laser quest type venue.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    sounds like a prop from 471

  10. Arctic fox
    Happy

    Hmm, this (or something like it, whoever built it) could in the not too distant future.....

    .........be interesting.

    "it's also far too expensive and massive for any actual living room to accommodate."

    The games arcade of the future maybe? Even if it would be too expensive for most people's homes there would appear to be a business opportunity here. Your high-street holo-deck emporium perhaps?

  11. Zot
    Mushroom

    I found it embarrassingly bad.

    I cringed when they were playing it.

    I'm not sure why, but I think it's horrible.

  12. Lamont Cranston

    I remember total immersion gaming, from my childhood.

    We'd run around outside.

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