Microsoft's RoomAlive is not quite the holodeck
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
Comic deals, prizes and latest news
Sign up to get the best content of the week, and great gaming deals, as picked by the editors.
If it’s set in space, Andy will probably write about it. He loves sci-fi, adventure games, taking screenshots, Twin Peaks, weird sims, Alien: Isolation, and anything with a good story.