Home Entertainment Center
First of all, usually when someone would think home entertainment center, they would think like a TV and some good speakers, maybe a DVD player and a DVR cable box or something, but a DVR and DVD player could be replaced easily by a computer, because they are essencially computers that only have a specific purpose.
My idea of a home entertainment center would a combination of a home computer with a TV card that outputs to a 52" HDTV, so in reallity it would kind of just be my idea of the ideal computer set up.
First think it would need would be the ideal desktop
The Dell Inspiron 530, at the time we are in right now, is what I would get to begin this entertainment center, only because its $650~ and it has a 1.8GHz dual core processor, 2 GBs of RAM, a nVidia GeForce 8300GS that has 128MBs of video RAM, a 250GB harddrive, and a DVD/CD writer combo. For what it costs, its the best thing you can get right now.
The next big component to my home entertainment center would be the "monitor".
The Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080 HD would do very well as a monitor, I would think, and as a plus, it is 50". Since it is HD, it would perform exactly how a monitor would. It is a 16:9 ratio and you could probably get it to a resolution of 1365 x 768. This beautiful device will run you a little less then $3000, but it would be worth it.
The next step in my entertainment center would be the audio.
The AudioFX Pro 5+1 by BenHeck headset would definately be the best way to go for a gaming headset, because it puts out simulated 5 speaker surround sound with a simulated bass, whats also awesome about it is that you don't have to set up the 5 channels in the right angles and distance away from you to get the best experience, you just put them on and your ready to go, which is especially good for lan parties! And when playing a game it would give anyone the advantage of being able to tell where anyone was around you just because you can tell if they are in front of you or behind you or anything.
The next step is where I take my computer beyond the home entertainment center aspect and more towards the gaming aspect.
I feel that pretty soon, the games we will play will all be in stereoscopic 3D, so I figure I could get a head start, and get some E-D Wired 3D Glasses.
These glasses turn any monitor into a 3D monitor and for a lot cheaper too. 3D monitors go for at least $600, where as this device goes for only $70 or so. Not only would this make any game you play ridiculously awesome, you would be able to tell how far away things were, and really be able to see things better in any game. Though you may look a little more dorky.
When you go as far as to make your games stereoscopic, then the next step is obviously this.
This device is called the Neural Impulse Actuator. This device basically allows you to control games almost completely with your head. Now when I say your head, I don't mean your mind. What this thing does is senses muscle movements and uses that to control games, like one of the videos I saw was of this guy who had just began to use the device, and he said the way he used the headset to shoot in this first person shooter game as that he clenched his teeth. The only thing you have to do when you wear this headset is use the mouse to make minor adjustments to your aim.
This is about as far as I would be able to get for now if I were to only buy all of the stuff and not develop anything. But there is something that is in development still, as far as I know.
The Emotive headset is actual mind control, you do things in the game just by thinking about them, and the headset senses this and tells the computer. You can imagine what kind of games this kind of thing would bring about. My first thought was of a kind of Star Wars Jedi game where you'd use the headset to control force powers and such. I can't wait for the day that this is available and games support it.
This is as far as any kind of idea that anyone else had really given me. The only idea I almost developed on my own is the idea of a desk that would roll and have a keyboard and mouse more accessible to someone that was kind of reclined in a chair or on a sofa. All the desks that are made for computers now kind of make you need to sit up, so its really hard to relax when your at the computer. So if there was a keyboard that maybe the keyboard was on its own platform kind of in front and to the left of you so it would be easy for you to just have your left hand resting on it, but also accessible if you needed to type something with both hands, and then have the mouse on another platform on your right side where your right hand could easily rest on and move it.