Microsoft Unveils Its Holographic Minecraft Demo

Reality and imagination overlapped yesterday at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, as Microsoft unveiled its holographic version of Minecraft, developed for their new product, the HoloLens. 

By donning the HoloLens, a headset that projects a virtual world onto the real one, players can now immerse themselves in the blocky world and move around freely. The image can be projected onto a wall or any flat surface—no screen needed. Most impressively, the game can be placed on a table to create a miniature 3D virtual world that a player can explore and manipulate.

Players interact with the game space using voice commands and hand motions. This includes changing angles, moving the play space, peeking inside buildings, and zooming in and out. Saying "follow player" allows a player to trail one character as they move around. The HoloLens knows what you're looking at, so you don't need to specify a target when you say a command.

This is all possible with the use of the HoloLens. While an outsider may see a person wearing goggles and waving at the air, players can see a whole universe through the lenses. The new device uses a transparent holographic HD lens, advanced motion sensors, and more computing power than a laptop to create images that superimpose onto the world around you.

The presentation is definitely impressive, and it will be exciting to see how the consumer version pans out.

[h/t: Kotaku.com]