The Mind-Blowing Tech That Turns Your Room Into a Video Game

Hold on to your Xbox controllers — this new proof-of-concept technology from Microsoft is unbelievable. It's called RoomAlive, and it'll finally get gamer butts off the couch! The new tech can sense the space of a room and project the video game environment onto the couch, walls, floor . . . or whatever else is in your living room. You can use a traditional Xbox controller to run your character up your walls, along your floor, onto your coffee table, and more.

RoomAlive uses a Microsoft Kinect sensor, along with a projector and a computer. The Kinect's sensor understands spatial depth as well as vertical and horizontal space and can calibrate to the individual geometry of each user's room. In the demo, there are six projectors, or "procams," installed in the room, beaming images onto the surfaces of the room. They're as "easy to install as a light fixture," according to Microsoft.

The result? A gaming experience that's truly futuristic. You cant point your gun at a wall and blast away an evil little creature. You can run around your room and karate-chop your opponent's character. It reminds me of the video game scene from Her (careful before playing the below video — there's some NSFW language). In the clip, the video game environment is projected into space, and the main character, played by Joaquin Pheonix, uses subtle hand gestures as controls. The Room Alive gestures aren't as subdued, so we recommend you get your delicate decor pieces out of the way before trying your hand at immersive Whack-a-Mole.