Virtual reality isn’t the only way to experience immersive gaming – with Razer’s Project Ariana projector you could soon turn your whole room into a game, no headset required.
Announced at CES 2017, Project Ariana is essentially a high-definition projector intended to work with Razer’s Chroma system, which is currently used to bring ambient RGB lighting to the company’s gaming peripherals.
Though it can be used as a normal 4K projector, Ariana is intended for much greater things; according to Razer, Ariana has an ultra-wide fisheye lens that enables it to project lighting and video effects across an entire room.
Total immersion
This means that while you play your favorite game on a monitor, the projector will be able to extend in-game graphics and colors into the room around you, effectively immersing you in the game world.
What’s projected is entirely down to what developers think would work best. It could be something as simple as ambient lighting, to game interface elements such as maps, or developers could even use it to extend the game world beyond the monitor to the walls around you.
To ensure total immersion, the projector is kitted out with two 3D depth-sensing cameras and calibration software to ensure the images and colors projected fit with the lighting of your room and don’t distort around any furniture.
Razer’s co-founder Min-Liang Tang, Project Ariana is “the future of Razer Chroma” and will bridge “the sensory gap between player and game” allowing for “total gaming immersion.”
It’s certainly an exciting idea. In fact, it’s one we’ve seen before in Microsoft’s IllumiRoom Kinect concept. That project, however, died a death in the concept stages, which is where Project Ariana is right now. As it’s a concept, it’s unlikely we’ll see this projector launched any time soon, but if Razer is able to pull it off it could be something incredibly exciting.
- For more gadget news straight from CES 2017 check out the official CES.tech site
