When I first saw Illumiroom I thought it was alright and a nice little side project for MS research. After looking at the full Illumiroom video, I see a lot of very cool gameplay concepts that appear to enhance the gaming experience. The racing simulation party were the light changes as your ride moves under bridges and things of that sort.

Being able to change the contrast of your gaming space is also a neat trick which I can see if developers supported that could be very cool experience. Think of Resident Evil or some type of horror game where the walls drip with blood or slime things of that sort.

The part of the demo that showed the snow effect could be expanded to do leaves in a Ninja Gaiden game or sand blowing around like in the Uncharted 3 scenes.

There was the other scene where if there is an object you need to pay attention to and turn from it, the projection could light it up thus giving clues within the game.

I believe that in the hands of some very creative developers we could really see this tech going from gimmick to I want no matter the cost if done right. Actually if MS wants to sell this tech, they should have their own first party or 2nd party studios build those types of Illumiroom features within their games and showcase them at their May event. It would be even better if People at the event can play those games to give their opinion how the tech feels because I am sure its something that you have to experience than watching from a video.

Last but not least the problem I see with the tech is if MS will bring this to market, will they bundle some type of device with the console or will people have to purchase their own projector. Will MS sell their own branded projector which is cheaper or better than what you can get at the price point they choose.

A projector like this would be a brighness upgrade over your current projector and would save you the bulb cost over its lifetime since it has an estimate of 20K hours.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116575

And this is only the first gen of these high end LED home theater projector. Within 2 years these should be $999

Have any of you consider using your projector side by side with illumiroom at the expense of a smaller projection? You could still have a large screen but it doesn't have to max out your wall.

Well engaget has an interview with the guys that are doing development on Illumiroom and they pretty much nix this as coming out for the nextbox. At this stage Illumiroom is still in MS research which means that it may never reach the market.

illumiroom is a silly impractical gimmick and not comparable to a proper projector setup at all.

I'd buy a 720 just for illumiroom

It seemed really cool and I believe it will make the gamer have better interaction with the game. I like sometimes to play in the dark on my projector; with Illumiroom it will be more exciting to project my games.

I'm sure it will do well for Microsoft, but it isn't something I want personally. (That could change of course)

Ah very nice! I just dove into the projector market, nice to see people who enjoy the same enjoyment I do! I also second your notion, the entry level price for a quality setup isn't nearly as absurd as others have said in this thread either... I'd consider my setup entry level, although it's just about as good as an entry level setup you could hope for, and I shopped around quite abit and nabbed some fantastic deals, my setup is as follows:

Factory Refurbished Epson 8500UB - $1100

Factory Refurbished Denon AVR-1712 - $250

2 Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Bookshelf Speakers - $75 Each

1 Pioneer SP-C22 Center Channel Speaker - $100

1 Pioneer SW-8MK2 Subwoofer - $100

105" High Contrast Acoustically Transparent Screen - $200 (Self Built - TIP: Build your own screen, you can get SUPERB quality for great value!)

So for all the base components it ran me $1900, out of pocket I paid $1100 after selling my old Sony 40" HDTV and Sony HTIB. Being an enormous fan of movies and videogames I don't regret the purchase one bit! The projector quality is fantastic, superb black levels, great contrast, and extremely crisp picture quality, and as a bonus it has lens shift! And I didn't think twice on buying a refurb as it comes with a full 2 year warranty and a full 2 year bulb replacement straight from Epson. I figure by the time the warranty is up I'll be able to invest in a nice LED Projector as prices should have come down, then I won't have to worry about the cost of bulb replacements. And on top of that, the sound quality is awesome as well and the value is unbeatable! Highly recommend that line of Pioneer Speakers, Andrew Jones designed, you'd have to look around the $2000 pricerange for the next best set you can get, and I absolutely adore my Denon Receiver as well. IMO if you have the capability and space in your home, I feel like everyone should have this kind of setup, especially if you're passionate about your home entertainment.

Looks good, depending on the price, I might get it eventually. More for parties and friends than for using it in halo for example. It looks great, especially the effects. The section of the video with the cartoony cart racing game just blew my mind. The thing actually gets lights to bounce of walls, tables an other furniture, not to mention how it moves as the character on screen moves... We're without a doubt looking into the future here though, Illumiroom isn't there yet.