The Microsoft IllumiRoom concept was initially showed off at CES 2013 back in January. It uses a projector combined with Microsoft’s Kinect sensor to offer users a literally absorbing gameplay experience. IllumiRoom extends gameplay beyond the television as it scans the user’s surrounding through Kinect and creates a digital map of the room. Images and illusions are then projected on to walls or objects via the widescreen projector. For example, if the player was in a level in which it was snowing, IllumiRoom could make it look like it was snowing inside the room in which the game is being played.
It was rumored yesterday that Microsoft IllumiRoom might be available with the next generation Xbox, though that is not entirely true. Brett Jones and Hrvoje Benko, researchers at Microsoft, said that the product isn’t ready yet though it is working quite nicely in the lab. They say that the earliest this can be shown to people, that too as a concept, is July. They didn’t say anything with regards to the release time frame for IllumiRoom. Microsoft is due to make the next generation Xbox announcement at the 21st of May.