A gaming Holodeck for your home? Its on the way, says Rare

Total immersion in a believable and completely customisable digital world. The vision offered by Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Holodeck represents the ultimate gaming nirvana, and Rare boss Scott Henson says that gaming is heading down that path”.

I’m not going to give you the exact date you’re going to have a holodeck in your room, but think about that for just a second," he told Eurogamer.

"Think about the movies we all grew up on and the things that inspired us in lots of different ways to create the kind of entertainment to do. We’re down that path. We’re absolutely down that path right now."

Don’t get too excited, though. Henson thinks the wait for such technology is – shock horror – going to be a significant one.

"When we stood up and we said it’s the HD era in 2005 and HD is now – I remember because I wrote the speech and I was at GDC in 2005 and we gave away TVs, it was awesome,” he added.

And here we are in 2011 and HD TVs are pretty pervasive, but they’re still in only about half the homes around the world. It’s not everywhere yet.

"When will the holodeck happen? It’s going to be a journey. I don’t think there’s going to be a date."

Of course, had Henson done his research he’d know that the Holodeck will be with us on Stardate 41153.7. Or the year 2364. Duh.