Microsoft really differentiated itself with Kinect and now it’s touting IllumiRoomn as the next step in immersive gaming. The idea is images will be projected in your room beyond the display – allowing for the offline world to merge with the online. The company has showed similar demos before – at an ITEXPO some years back the company showed a video on the keynote stage of a desk where a screen was projected and interacted with items on the surface like a coffee cup.

The same technology was on display this past week at CES actually – just not from Redmond.

Is IllumiRoom a product we will see in the future or just a gimmick with a short shelf life? I am not sure. It seems really cool – but then again I remember a manufacturer came out with a TV which projected the color displayed on a TV screen to the surrounding wall and it didn’t gain much traction.

Still, this tech looks leading-edge and I’d love to try it out.