Kinect-enabled IllumiRoom brings us one step closer to Star Trek-style holodecks

Your Xbox is cool again. And it’s thanks to Microsoft’s latest innovation, the IllumiRoom. Watch the video and we’ll play catchup after that.

Microsoft’s research team say that IllumiRoom “can change the appearance of the room, induce apparent motion, extend the field of view, and enable entirely new game experiences.” We saw the video, we know of it’s unique ability to create virtual world.

With Kinect for Windows and a projector, the room is scanned, size is determined and the game bleeds into our reality. The effect looks amazing and immersion is all but guaranteed. The games look fake, but this demo is apparently running in realtime. There’ll be more to see at CHI in Paris this April.