VR is surely more immersive than this. You have an entire fantasy world in which you are 100% visually and auditorily immersed. How does AR get more immersive than that?

The Microsoft HoloLense looks very intriguing. I don't know how far you can go in the gaming with it though, maybe some game designing (although I think it will be limited in its scope). I have worked with CAD before, even have a certificate, in those areas it seems really cool to use although it probably won't necessarily equate to better or faster results. Hopefully this device won't just turn into vaporware.

Also the ceiling with AR livin room gaming is a lower than VR. With AR in the living room you only have so much room to operate within, with VR you can be transported to a whole new universe and of course immerses the player. But AR and VR both have there own stakes in this world and can co-exist peacefully. They just need to shed a few pounds becuase they look ridiculous atm.

It would be great if sometime down the line kinect 3.0 or a device used in the same fashion allows full body holograms to not only talk to you but have a presence in the house. Imagine talkin to Nathan Drake, Masterchief, or your grandma like that.

Arguably when AR is integrated into the real world it is more immersive as you don't have to try to pretend you are in a real environment as you actually are, imagine a game character sitting on the lounge next to you to interact or being able to walk around and examine the motorbike you are about to ride. VR and AR both have their markets as to which is more immersive really comes down to definition and perspective.

But the real world environment is dictated by where you are currently sat. If i am sat in my living room and you have some AR integration for say a COD game, its just not going to be as interesting or immersive as a headset where the whole world is computerised, even if the VR version has a lower res, its more immersive.

Imagine playing COD type game in real building or environment where the enemy are generated within that environment for you. Really it all comes down to perspective, both can be incredibly immersive, just in different ways.

It's one of those things that "Sounds" like its exciting, but in all reality its just not. First you have to find a building to run around in (with headgear on), and then you'll need some controller or are we just going to do the kinect pew pew pew hand signal :) VR is much better :) and in fact if you want to run around, better off buying that VT run machine thingy... 

I think people should view this as something entirely different. Imagine playing Alien Isolation and suddenly seeing the Xenomorph CRAWLING out of the television set! That would make me crap my pants at least! Or seeing bullets in Geara of War flying out of the screen. It can really enhance the experience in a way we don't even realize yet.

I didn't think this needed it's own thread, but Peter Molyneux the overhype machine has something to say.

Peter Molyneux warns Microsoft to not over promise on HoloLens

Similar to how Microsoft positioned Kinect, Molyneux fears that Microsoft may be overhyping its new holographic technology - and as he would fully admit, Molyneux is no stranger to promising the world. Microsoft can't make that mistake again with HoloLens.

"It did remind me of [Kinect]. You kind of want to scream 'don't over promise these things.' The thing about the concept videos is they feel so seamless and it just looks like everything's working and actually, as we found with Kinect, it works all fine if you've got the perfect environment and the perfect distance away and you're the right shape human being. But it's very challenging if any of those things don't come together perfectly," he noted. "The technology that they are showing with HoloGlass is amazing. If you just took a couple parts of that demo and said you could look at a TV screen on any surface, I'd be pretty impressed, but they took it so far into the future. You had Minecraft spinning off into the entire geometry of the room. How they get that geometry they didn't quite say."

"My hope is it's been two years since I've seen the technology and it was awesome tech 2 years ago so maybe they solved a lot of those problems and that video they showed is going to be a reality and a reality that works seamlessly as opposed to one that works in a predefined environment. It's almost as if they kind of oversold it to me, you know the motorbike and going around - and the motorbike just looked perfect. It made me feel as a consumer like 'Oh my God, it's going to be incredible.' My fear is that when you actually put the device on you're not as blown away as you should be."

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-01-22-molyneux-warns-microsoft-dont-overpromise-on-hololens

Looks like he really got burned by Kinect trying to make Fable The Journey. Interesting to see him comd down to earth.
He's right of course, just like Illumiroom, the biggest challenge is going from a known controlled environment to working anywhere. Nevermind requiring a whole new way to write videogames that can work in any type of environment instead of premade set pieces. It remains to be seen if it will actually lead to anything more interesting than Eye pet, Tumble, Kinectimals and Happy action theater.