Anyone who has watched Star Trek has imagined what it would be like to hang out in the Holodeck, and a new patent suggests that Microsoft may one day try to bring that experience to your living room. Described as an "immersive display experience," the concept is to expand the game past the edges of your television — so you'll still have a primary display, but the system will project images all around you to create a more realistic experience.

For example, the patent describes a situation in which you "may turn around and observe an enemy sneaking up from behind" while playing a game. Of course, this technology is likely a long ways off and there are undoubtedly plenty of issues to work out when it comes to creating games designed to take up an entire room. But once all of the kinks are worked out, who knows, a future iteration of the Kinect could be the ideal peripheral for the latest Cabela's Dangerous Hunts game.