Microvision laser projection gun hands-on
You didn't think CES was over, did you? Saving a true gamer's delight for last, we went along to meet with Microvision's reps today and were introduced to its PicoP laser projector and gun gaming peripheral. The projection tech employed here is unique, as each pixel (848 x 480 resolution) is itself an RGB laser reflecting off a mirror which flips 60 times a second. What that results in is a permanently focused projection, no matter how much you wiggle, jiggle or maneuver the projector. The whole thing fits within 6cc and was designed to be embedded into phones. We snapped a few pics of the standalone projector and then moved on to the rifle gaming controller. Come along after the break to check out our hell-raising skills on video, as well as some more in-depth impressions of the hardware.
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We got to test out an enemy-deprived Operation Flashpoint map, and picking up the controller and getting moving was surprisingly easy and intuitive. Picture clarity was decent at the huge sizes we tested things out at, but with some careful arrangement and a smaller projection this might really be good enough to replace your usual gaming monitor -- with the reason you'd want to execute such a swap being the fact that you can point your in-game gun and view in a more natural (and fun) fashion than PC and console control schemes allow. There's also a button locking the picture on a given spot, which allows you to negotiate the full 360 degrees in your game using a less than 180-degree gaming environment. It's hard to convey in words, but you'll see what we're talking about in the video. For our money, this is a terrific party piece, which can be massively enjoyable, but of course you run into the natural roadblock that arms will grow tired by any gaming session stretching beyond 10 or 15 minutes. Still, we'd totally buy one of these to share with our friends, if only it weren't so bleeding expensive. We don't know the actual price (or time of availability, since not even the company knows when these might be coming out), but the standalone projector costs $500 and the gun controller will be somewhere north of that.
