"Ever wish you could experience the "holodeck," the 3-D virtual environment aboard the Starship Enterprise?

There's a company that believes it's come close, letting video game players play with huge, high-definition screens that envelop the user.

HoloDek, which takes its name from the "Star Trek" series, has been testing out the concept in Hampton for about a year.

"This is a movie theater for gamers," Mike Fortier, vice president for technology at HoloDek, told The Boston Globe.

The company's test site features 42 gaming stations with high-speed personal computers and high-definition screens ranging in size from 17 inches to 13 feet.

Then there's the "half-pipe," which features a screen that is 20 feet wide and 12 feet high. Another creation is a sphere, which is 20 feet in diameter and eventually will offer a 360-degree wraparound gaming effect. The gamer sits inside the sphere on a robot that rumbles, banks, and spins out, providing many of the same effects as a flight simulator.

Most video game players play at home on their computer, game console, or the Internet. But HoloDek officials believe their creation will bring such gamers out of the solitude of their homes.

"We want to make it socially acceptable to enjoy the gaming experience," said Kit McKittrick, CEO of HoloDek. "How many gamers have experienced the country club life?"" [more]