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Microsoft’s IllumiRoom Concept Could Revolutionize Your Gaming Experience
No one knows where gaming will be five or ten years from now, but that doesn’t keep us from thinking of awesome ways to make gaming more immersive. A TV screen is just so small, and even if you have a massive HDTV, you probably only have one, so that leaves the neighboring walls, floor, and ceiling that add absolutely no immersion to your gaming experience. I suppose we could take the route that awful Gamer film did and replace the walls and ceiling with interactive screens, but I think it’s safe to say that’s way down the road.
That’s what makes this concept from Microsoft so exciting, because it’s something I could see happening in the near future. It’s not crazy, and it looks like it could possibly even be an extension of the third or fourth version of the Kinect. It’s Called IllumiRoom, and it essentially takes what’s going on on-screen and expands it in different ways. It could be as small as seeing snow projected on the walls or as big as seeing animated fire or entire levels on the walls outside your TV. More, including an awesome video, after the break.
As a horror fan, IllumiRoom becomes even more exciting because horror games tend to rely on your immersion. This could make walking through the empty town of Silent Hill, with the fog and ash projected on your walls, more immersive. Or say you’re playing Fatal Frame and you see ghosts blink in and out of existence while you’re exploring a broken down house. Or this could even expand on what ZombiU did with the Wii U’s GamePad where instead of using the controller to find enemies in the environment that can’t be seen on your TV, you can instead see them projected on your TV. The possibilities are limitless.
Anyway, check it out below, and if you’re feeling generous, you should definitely tell me how you would like to see this used.
Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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