Domed projection screen promises immersive gaming
One to watch?
The dream of totally immersive videogaming could soon become reality, thanks to one gaming geek’s efforts to create a full-field-of-vision display system.

The jDome could submerge you into GTA IV shoot-outs
Inventor John Nilsson claims to have already been granted a patent for his jDome, which is essentially a hemispherical projection screen. Gamers simply connect their PC to a projector and angle the light beam onto the jDome’s outer surface.
Video action is viewed on the dome’s inner surface, with the user standing in front of the device.
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Nilsson told Register Hardware that the jDome then fills almost all of the gamer’s field of vision, making the player feel totally immersed within the game.
The jDome’s obvious disadvantage is that owners must first have enough space to erect a giant dome in and be willing to stand in front of the unit while playing a videogame. But the inventor maintains that players will be able to detect peripheral game details, such as sharp-shooter enemies, out of the corner of their eye more readily than they could on a flatscreen display.
Nilsson still working on the prototype, but you can get a one-off model for a whopping $6000 (£3000/€3800), he said.
COMMENTS
Not new
I saw this demonstrated at CeBIT '03 (?), although IIRC that one was using a 3' opaque screen and the projector mounted under the kbd, with digitally distorted image to get back proper perspective. Looked nice, you gain some 70% FOV. Not _periferal_vision, but still an improvement for gaming. If you search for 'projection dome' you can find a dozen howtos on building your own.
Running that search before posting an article might have been a good idea too.
Patent !! Is he having a laugh
Before the days of high performance computing, aircraft simulators used the same technique by projecting images onto a dome.
Saw it in person. Laughed.
I saw this at GDC 2008. Its absolutely useless, offers no benefit whatsoever and I was completely unimpressed.
Total fad with lots of the usual gaming paraphernalia marketing buzzwords.
Distorted FoV
Yeah, that's great... You can see about a square foot directly in the projector screen sharply, and the rest is distorted to hell.
Oh, and how have they made the image not lose focus when the distance from the projector to the screen varies by about 3 feet as the screen curves?
Unless there's some wonderful wizardry going on here, epic fail.
