The tagline for Microsoft's RoomAlive experiment is "Magical Experiences Enabled by Scalable, Adaptive Projector-Camera Units", which isn't as catchy as "it's like the holodeck off Star Trek", which it is, a bit. Using Kinect-powered depth cameras and a projector, the proof-of-concept prototype transforms the room around you into a game.
"It's an immersive, magical augmented reality gaming experience," say the creators. "Users can touch, shoot, and dodge augmented content."
While the experiment has a long way to go before you can step into a realistic, fully-rendered vision of 1920s Chicago, Picard-style, it's a neat idea, and allows you to experience a form of VR without having a massive pair of ski goggles strapped to your head. Don't expect RoomAlive to be released to the public any time soon, but maybe a future where holodecks exist isn't so far away after all.
Thanks, PCGamesN
