4 hours ago
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Unlike many of my colleagues at CNET, I'm not a gamer. But an immersive experience at CES 2026 almost convinced me to become one.
"I feel like I'm hallucinating," I said, stationed in front of what appeared to be a standard desktop display, controller in hand. As I moved my character through a series of tunnels, it seemed as if the three-dimensional imagery was pulling me in.
I've never felt so drawn into a digital world, and I wasn't even wearing a headset. How was this even happening?
The demo that hypnotized me was powered by a feature called Immersity, from 3D display company Leia, which uses spatial AI software paired with hardware that can switch between standard viewing and holographic depth projection. On-screen images on a phone, tablet, monitor or laptop appear to leap out at the viewer, no glasses needed. That includes video games, movies, YouTube or social media posts and even medical images like CT scans.
I got to see several of these applications firsthand at Leia's demo in Las Vegas, and the impressions are still lingering.
Unlike 3D immersion using a headset or glasses, Leia's tech works by tracking your face with cameras, sending a left view of the on-screen content to your left eye and a right view to your right eye. You then see the display in stereo vision, similar to how you view the real world. That means if someone is standing off to your side (or recording the experience on camera), they won't necessarily get the full three-dimensional effect, because it's catered to the person sitting in front of the display.
Along with the gaming experience, I watched a nature video on YouTube go from two dimensions to three with the click of a button, making the animals stand out against leafy backgrounds. I joined a video call in which the person I was chatting with and I could seemingly reach out and give each other a high-five. (It reminded me of trying Google's Beam 3D video call.) And I saw a snippet of the film Avatar in 3D, without needing to don a pair of IMAX glasses.
3D glasses-free displays aren't a new thing. Leia, the company that created the Immersity feature, was notably behind the 3D displays in Red's Hydrogen One phone released in 2018. The phone's lukewarm reception led to it being quickly discontinued, with some reviewers noting the holographic display was lackluster.
But Immersity's capabilities and wider-reaching applications seem to be more promising, and their impact impressed me far more than I expected.
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A lot of 3D tech can feel gimmicky, with subjects hardly jumping out from the screen. Immersity really did feel, well, immersive. The multilayered effect was alluring and lifelike in a way I didn't know was possible without glasses.
The 3D tech is already available on a handful of hardware devices you can buy today, including the 16-inch Red Magic Laptop and the Samsung Odyssey 3D monitor. Products like the zSpace Inspire and Onsor AMAD can be used for educational purposes like getting a 3D view of diagrams or molecular structures, and the Barco Eonis 3D can make it easier to decipher medical images.
Immersity could also shake up VR gaming. Leia teamed up with a company called PortalVR, which lets you play any SteamVR game on your PC without a headset. Plug in a Meta Quest or Pico VR via USB and use the controllers to play, while leaving the bulky head-mounted gear on the table. Immersity takes that experience one step further by making the images on your display pop out at you, more closely resembling what you'd see with a headset on. Considering Meta's VR cuts this week, maybe software like Leia's could be an alternative for some apps.
Personally, I'm not sure how practical or necessary a three-dimensional display is when I'm scrolling through TikTok or watching period dramas, but there's something to be said about leveling up display technology that's remained stagnant for so long.
It's neat to see a real-world feature that feels like it was pulled out of a sci-fi flick. While I'm not sure what displays or monitors I'd own that could work with it, I saw the appeal instantly.
I walked away from Leia's demo in awe and with a new resolution: "I'm gonna start gaming just for this." Though I may need to wait for the tech to become a little more widely available.
