Xbox concept expands video games from the TV to walls and ceiling

System uses Kinect camera to scan any room, according to Microsoft.

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A new proof-of-concept by Microsoft lets Xbox video games project images around the player’s room.

IllumiRoom in action. Credit: Microsoft Research.

IllumiRoom, as shown in the video from Microsoft below, gives the effect of peripheral vision to a wide range of software, including first-person shooters (FPS) and racing games.

In the FPS example, the player sees more of the surrounding area. In a racing example, overhead street lights whiz by on the player’s ceiling, realistically recreating the feel of driving at night.

“Our system can change the appearance of the room, induce apparent motion, extend the field of view, and enable entirely new game experiences,” states the research blog.

IllumiRoom uses a Kinect camera to scan any room and project images in appropriate places, according to Microsoft.

“Our system uses the appearance and the geometry of the room (captured by Kinect) to adapt the projected visuals in real-time without any need to custom pre-process the graphics."

Microsoft plans to release more information at the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, which opens 27 April in Paris.

Microsoft said the video of IllumiRoom was captured live and no special effects have been added in post-production.