Microsoft Working on a Gaming Helmet, Glasses

[blzd1]

http://kotaku.com/5894703/microsoft-wor ... et-glasses

Since 2010, Microsoft has been working on a gaming display system so small that it wouldn't need to be sitting on an entertainment unit or even held in your hands. You could wear it in a pair of glasses. Or in a stupid helmet.

The company sees two avenues for such technology: the glasses are an entertainment possibility, while the helmet, being the more heavyweight solution of the pair (including the same display tech but with an accompanying headpiece), could be used for gaming or more practical uses like aviation.

How would the glasses work? It's proposed in a patent that to get around the problem of the human eye being unable to focus on objects so close, it would distort to appear as though it was 21 inches away. The glasses could also adjust their transparency depending on the user's tastes or a game's needs, so you could black everything out and just focus on the action, or conversely use the specs as augmented reality devices able to overlay imagery onto the real world.

Sounds crazy at first, but then, the future always does.

Remember, standard patent disclaimers apply: just because a company is researching stuff like this doesn't mean it'll ever come to market, etc etc.

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Discuss

[ERP]

My info is all second hand, but apparently they are looking at this very seriously, they hired a lot of people for the project about 8 or 9 months ago.

[PalmerTech]

What a terrible article. They claim that the image is "distorted" to appear "21 inches away", when even their own source clearly says that the image will appear to be 21" diagonally at arm length.

Cool that they are looking into this, would be amazing if the next Xbox had an HMD!

[eqzitara1]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/20/heres ... ng-helmet/

[Bishop51]

Like I said a long while ago, Microsoft & Sony are very likely in a cold war right now to be the first kid on the block with viable gaming goggles. This is a technology perfectly suited to consoles and consoles are perfectly suited to bring AR and VR to the masses.

With Google announcing AR glasses coming later this year, the dawn of Augmented reality (and by consequence VR) is for the first time about to break through to the average Joe. I keep telling friends and family what a profound affect this will have on everyone's lives but the concept is just too alien for them to understand. I keep saying things like "You know, not too long from now that big TV on your wall will be completely unnecessary as will be your touchscreen on your phone or your iPad. You'll project the TV wherever you want it in your room...and you'll decorate that same room with virtual properties!". They invariable gloss over when I say that and switch to the next subject...lol.

I look forward to the day that I can turn my office into a Medieval pub just by selecting that theme from a freefloating drop-down menu

Big wake up call coming to people over the next 5 years.

[STRZ]

When i saw the topic i was hoping that they got intouch with sensics to massproduce their new device...

[Synexious]

Haha Bishop, my friends and family are the same way!

[cybereality]

At least they're looking a-Head. </dumb-joke>