IllumiRoom Projects Images Past Your TV, Looks Stunning

During Samsung's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) keynote, Microsoft demonstrated one of the projects they're working on and this one has a gaming slant to it.

Microsoft's Research lab calls it "IllumiRoom," and it projects images outside of your TV while you're playing games. According to the official site, IllumiRoom " is a proof-of-concept system from Microsoft Research. It augments the area surrounding a television screen with projected visualizations to enhance the traditional living room entertainment experience."

It's hard to explain it, but for gaming fans, you really need to see the demo trailer.

IllumiRoom uses the Xbox 360's Kinect camera and a projector to "blur the lines" between on-screen content and the environment the user is in to merge both experiences into one. One example Microsoft has given is that IllumiRoom can change the actual appearance of the room, "induce" apparent motion, extend the field of view, and even "enable entirely new game experiences."

No actual release date or price has been given for the concept, but it wouldn't surprise me if this skips the Xbox 360 and makes its way onto the Xbox 720 instead. I do admit, though, this thing looks expensive. You need the console, the Kinect (or Kinect 2.0) and a projector. Not even counting the space the player needs to make sure this works properly. But boy, does this thing look damn impressive.

Is IllumiRoom something you'd want for next-gen consoles or will its effects get stale and distracting after a while? Sound off on what you think of the tech.