Gaming on the BIG Wide Whatever

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Gaming on the BIG Wide Whatever

The angry beavers at HardwareCanucks have posted a video of Razer's Project Ariana in action. If you have not seen this, it is worth taking a look. I am not sure how the actual experience of using it would be however, and I have heard that the system is far from inexpensive for what you get, but the video is pretty damn cool.

Razer's Project Ariana may make their triple-screen Valerie look like a kids [sic] toy. This projector not only expands the view for your monitor by projecting peripheral video on the wall but it also syncs up with a ton of other items like Hue lights. It is AMAZING to watch!

Now, since they suggest this makes triple screen gaming look like a kid's toy, it did make me harken back to building a 30 foot wide Eyefinity screen at the AMD / HardOCP Texas GamExperience four years ago. I would suggest for the enthusiast that wants to take matters into his own hands, you can make Razer's Ariana look like a kid's toy pretty quickly. A big blurry-as-hell overpriced kid's toy actually. So to answer the Beave's question, "The BEST Gaming Display EVER!?" I would have to reply, "You guys need to get out more."
 
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I don't understand this one and I can't help but think it's a big (hehe) gimmick. It's like you wanted a normal projector but couldn't afford it so settled with this.

Then again, it's almost like a scaled up and more immersive version of things like Dreamscreen which for some reason i think is kinda cool. http://www.dreamscreentv.com/
 
hard to tell I'm sure because it's just a video of the effect, but the video of the effect looks quite confusing with all that other information, and this is information the game will have to supply? So there's a way to get an "advantage" if playing some MP game versus another who doesn't have the technology because you can see around you more?

But who knows, maybe in practice your focus is still on the center screen and don't get as distracted by the other stuff.
 
Not sure if I like this or not, I think I'm going to go with not.

Edit: IF they refined it by making the projector just show your surrounds like trees, building, whatever the environment may be, that'd be different. But to have your arms, weapons, etc also bleeding into it? That kinda kills my interest in it, too much going on.
 
But who knows, maybe in practice your focus is still on the center screen and don't get as distracted by the other stuff.

All that effect is definitely designed for your periphery only. Even when I had a 3x23" Eyefinity setup, you only really focus on the center monitor. The side two just add to the immersion by filling in your peripheral vision.
 
Why not just project a bigger overall image? There are few things more immersive than gaming on a home theater projector.
 
I understand what they are trying to achieve, but it's very distracting and gimmicky IMHO. They need to project onto a screen that's wider than the FOV or project into a spherical room without flat surfaces or objects. Having a small screen and objects in the center detracts from the "immersion" effect.
 
As someone who games on a 120" projector screen I have to ask how is this any different than using any other projector with a screen that is too small for the image you are projecting? It doesn't make any sense at all to me.
 
To me it kind of misses the point of projecting on a wall to play on a big screen it was obvious ( at least to me) the resolution didn't look like it matched the monitor it was on and the FOV stretched everything out way to much.
 
Given the right game I think this would be epic!!
But as some mentioned when Im trying to concentrate on a game I think it would be distracting.

Kind of a catch 22. I also dig the smart light integration and the keyboard looked neat too (same catch 22 as the projector though).
 
I don't understand this one and I can't help but think it's a big (hehe) gimmick. It's like you wanted a normal projector but couldn't afford it so settled with this.

Then again, it's almost like a scaled up and more immersive version of things like Dreamscreen which for some reason i think is kinda cool. http://www.dreamscreentv.com/

When the video first starts, dude is playing on a 40 in screen from 15 feet away. This is dumb.


AYFSM ?
 
I can't tell if this is more distracting than cool... A bit of both probably. I think a 60" (or larger) 4k screen would be a better experience for me personally. The mood lighting (phillips hue) that changes with the game looks kind of subtle and fun though..
 
I'd have to try it before passing judgement, I imagine it may possibly provide immersion if it's outside the eyes' focus, which would be great. On the other hand it might just end up causing distraction or headaches instead. They'll need to demo this at a local Best Buy or something so I can figure out which way this would go - at least for me personally.

Kinda hard pressed to go for this when mainstream VR adoption's on the horizon potentially though.
 
I'm just glad Kyle didn't post the vid with me in it, but getting on subject: I think it's gimmicky. I can't think of an application that it'll actually look good, and to call it immersive... My eyes just don't work that way. I might be the only one.

The [H] event was awesome, and we need another one. IJS
 
It looks like trying to play on a giant shitty projector with only a very tiny viewable portion. I don't get it. Wouldn't your vid card still have to render all this extra junk anyways? The reason I'm a PC gamer is because I like having a 30" monitor 12" from my face, not so I can be 15' away in a recliner surrounded by blurry light.
 
I'm thinking it would be immersive. I used to own Cyborg AMBX gaming lights and the effect was very cool in games which supported it, like Battlefield. When you would run through the bazar the effect of sun light coming through the gazebo style roof was very cool as it was cast on the wall behind your monitor in your peripheral vision. People here slagged the fuck out of them, most without trying them. Kind of like how people slag on the bezels on eyefinity or NVidia surround without ever trying it.
 
I also just realized.... Would this not still create a huge reflection in most circumstances? I mean, unless you mount it at the perfect height, which I doubt everyone will be capable of doing. For example, I have a vaulted ceiling, nevermind my Dragon's Breath gray walls (and yea that's the actual color name, all my paint colors have cool names lol). Ideally the floor, but that'd require a big screen and seated at the proper distance :\

In short... this ain't gonna be a success at all! lol
 
That's cute Razor but it's more distracting than functional.
 
That setup would make me so motion sick I would barf. Seeing how it is a simple FOV adjustment, I feel that Microsoft's concept is far more refined.
 
It looks like they're playing on a 30" monitor from 10 feet away. That'd be the opposite of a captivating experience for me.

Yeah, I don't get that at all. Part of the whole point of PC gaming is to be, at most, a few feet away from the screen, so using a >90 degree FOV makes sense.

With how far away they were, I'd be curious to know if the people playing could even read the HUD display.
 
When I heard mention of a projector and saw the still of the video I thought Razer decided to do something interesting, like build a gaming focused projector to cut down on latency while allowing much larger display sizes that projectors bring, bonus if they got laser projector for gaming.

And then I watched the video.... wtf were they thinking? Some hideous unclear lights going all over the place?


What about my dream of an entire WALL turned into a display? They are not even trying to get us there.

Come on VR guys and display guys, razer has failed us, bump up the resolution to 4-8k to give me my personal imax screen.
 
A lot of confusion in this thread.
Regardless, let's trim the fat.
This is for better immersion. It achieves this.

What I expected from this forum was consideration of the extra horsepower required for the larger graphical view window.
SoftOCP in this thread, where are the old dogs?
 
A lot of confusion in this thread.
Regardless, let's trim the fat.
This is for better immersion. It achieves this.

What I expected from this forum was consideration of the extra horsepower required for the larger graphical view window.
SoftOCP in this thread, where are the old dogs?
Well I already have a projector that will fill my wall (most of it), why would I want to play on a dinky little screen that seems hard to see (with some pretty lighting). Which I feel would take away from my immersion?
 
Well I already have a projector that will fill my wall (most of it), why would I want to play on a dinky little screen that seems hard to see (with some pretty lighting). Which I feel would take away from my immersion?


This idea reminds me of those tacky laser projected "christmas lights"




You have the right idea, make the wall your screen.
 
I liked the part about integrating with the Phillips hue lights. Even if you didn't have the crazy projector, I could see situations in games where it would be cool to have dynamic background lighting in the room or around your desk. For example, you get shot in an FPS, the walls flicker with red like on the edges of your screen. Your playing the Witcher and night turns to day. As the sun gradually rises the hue lighting changes with it, making it seem like the sun is rising in your room.
 
Meh, better experienced in VR..

Yep, gaming on my projector at 100" on my wall isn't great compared using a monitor and most gamers I know don't have the room layout to use as an immersive lightshow gaming room that wouldn't rather have a kick-ass VR setup instead.

You might think that gaming on that big of as screen and having the lighting effects going on would just draw you into the game, but just trying to control a character on screen when it fills up your whole view is disorienting and the ambient light you catch glimpses of in your peripheral vision are unpleasant.

Gaming on a big screen setup light demoed only works well when you have a driving game or simulation, FPS games have you run way too fast and the movements mess with you after a certain point.

These extra lights seem to be trying to somehow leverage the idea of foveated rendering , like in VR to display a low resolution outline of the game you are playing past your normal display area to immerse you better but I'd find that more annoying than blue LEDs lighting up the room at night even pretty fast.

the same thing as in VR, or good projection, you really need to block out everything outside of the focus area from grabbing your attention so you can relax and suspend disbelief , shining stuff in the periphery is going to make you want to change focus to see what moved, constantly taking you out of the scene.
 
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