Microsoft Patents 3D Game Environment for the Xbox 720

Video game hardware developer Microsoft has obtained a patent for a new technology that can be used to project a 3D game environment across the entire room, which might be part of the next-generation home console.

The Microsoft patent states, “Interactive media experiences, such as video games, are commonly delivered by a high quality, high resolution display. Such displays are typically the only source of visual content, so that the media experience is bounded by the bezel of the display.”

The description says that the user will use the new technology to see and experience a number of features in a video game that would be lost on a 2D display.

It adds, “Further, because some entertainment experiences engage the user’s situational awareness (e.g., in experiences like the video game scenario described above), the ability to perceive motion and identify objects in the peripheral environment (i.e., in a region outside of the high resolution display) may intensify the entertainment experience.”

The patent document that Microsoft has filled for the new technology shows a new Kinect driven camera that can determine depth and can be used in order to then offer the data required to project the 3D environment in the room.

Microsoft has not yet offered any official information on the Xbox 720 home console so it’s possible that the new technology will be part of the device.

An official announcement is expected to arrive during E3 2012 and the launch might happen before the end of next year, with Sony expected to have a similar schedule.

A rumor from earlier in August suggested that Microsoft was having a problem with AMD, the company providing the chips for the new console, and that the time needed to get the production process up to speed would see the Xbox 720 pushed back into 2014.