Microsoft IllumiRoom has a chance

Microsoft Research has garnered a bit of a reputation for vaporware.  Just google (or bing) the Microsoft Courier or the original Microsoft Surface (now known as pixelsense).  Both were really cool projects that seemed like they could change how you interacted with the world.  Both were cost prohibitive and didn't depart strongly enough from established products like laptops, tablets, and non-interactive display surfaces.  To put it simply, there just wasn't enough demand for these niche projects to go beyond anything more than low-volume or prototype stages.

Microsoft Research's latest baby is IllumiRoom.  The best way to describe it is to just let you see it.

This is bridging the gap between virtual reality and standard displays.  On initial review, it seemed over the top and I immediately wrote it off.  A decent projector can cost thousands of dollars and would have to be mapped to the room exactly to not mess with the television display itself and give you a good picture.  Paint and carpet colors need to be factored in, as well as furniture.  I just didn't feel it would be a sensible purchase for your average gamer.

However, perhaps the system isn't is expensive as previously expected.  The technology relies on 2 critical pieces: A) Mapping the room, B) Projecting the peripheral information.  For A, the kinect already does this to a certain extent.  A 'kinect 2.0' could certainly not only map the room but also adjust for colors and lighting, as well as map what people were in the room.  Technology wise, it might be close to production ready at consumer level costs.  The importance of this mapping technology can't be ignored - this is where the flexibility of the IllumiRoom really shines.  It could be made to work for basically any room, regardless of setup.  For B, admittedly my main limiting factor, the linchpin is realizing that a higher quality projector is totally unnecessary.  The IllumiRoom is designed to extend your peripheral vision, where your visual acuity is substantially lower.  You could project a 640x480 200" picture and as long as your central vision is focused on the television, you could even say that it is a retina display.  A very cheap, low resolution display paired with an extended picture adjustment system (zoom, focus, keystone, etc) would work perfectly for this purpose.

This is by no means cheap for your standard gamer, but could very well bring things into the realm of possibility.  A $300 kinect + projector package is certainly marketable.  Finally, the next Xbox is set to be revealed within the next few months.  While 4K TVs were all the rage at CES, that technology is still quite a while away, and TV's need to grow another 20-30 inches before it becomes useful.  So that means that the next Xbox will be rocking hardware that is basically overkill for 1080p.  Yes, even at 1080p textures, character models, framerates (60 fps!) will be substantially better than the Xbox 360, but we will definitely be far into the diminishing returns curve while fixed at 1080p.  I'm sure the next Xbox has more than enough horsepower to drive an extended field of vision.

There are some final hurdles to overcome.  For example, both the kinect and projector would basically have to be behind, above, or next to the player - all are somewhat awkward positions - especially when you factor in the power cords and connectors.  However, the driving force that could overcome these hurdles shouldn't be ignored either.  The wow factor.  Immersion technology has been way to expensive or gimmicky (3D glasses) to really work.  It typically offers lower fidelity picture quality for only one person - but people typically agree that its pretty awesome - just not practical.  This is a simple and flexible immersion technology that could be near market ready, visible to everyone, and within reaching distance for cost.