Maybe, maybe not. While HoloLens can be used in gaming applications, that's not how Microsoft is focusing it right now. Also, it's still not a consumer product. It may get mentioned in the context of the Windows Mixed Reality platform as a whole.
Like most other Microsoft hardware I think it will probably die off before production or very soon into the production life-cycle. It is amazing how many products were being developed internally years before competitors only to be killed off before seeing the light of day. Then one of the other big tech companies does the same thing, sometimes even worse, and makes millions. MS is ridiculous, but they can afford to be because of the billions of dollars Windows and Office products bring in annually.
It's still in a bunch of corporations and Universities for testing out other uses but I think the idea of a consumer-level hololens is out. I do think Microsoft will mention VR at some point in their Press Conference (maybe those meetings with Oculus lead to anything) but I don't think Hololens will appear. Just like Google with Google Glass, Microsoft is probably taking whatever they learnt from HoloLens and funnelling that into something else.
Yes, but it'll be used in a context that nobody cares about. The Minecraft angle they used the last time I saw them display it with a videogame was pretty cool and interesting, but they're not going to use the same gimmick to explain the concept twice. It'd be interesting if they showed the same whole "AR minimap" for another game or an AR HUD for Forza, but my money is on them giving us an uninteresting example of the tech. "Now you can see leaderboards out of the corner of your eye!" "Stay connected with Facebook and Twitter and watch realtime posts related to your game flank the screen!" "Load up your favorite or preferred guide that you can glance at and make sure you're following along with how you want to play!"
Okay, that last one actually seems helpful in a way that reminds me of Elite Dangerous's HUD style, but I really feel like anything they can show us will let out a collective "meh".
They recently got approved to sell the Hololens as a commercial product. I don't think it'll show up as something you'll be buying this year, but I wouldn't be shocked to see a final product showcased in some way.
I'd say in another 10-15 years tech like Hololens will be practical and useful. By which I mean near instantaneous full vision-cone augmented reality that works on the fly and where the headset is the size of a typical pair of glasses.
I think Microsoft trying to bring this tech out now was never going to happen, they wanted a "we are not behind" image for their show - they achieved that for that show. For now, they will relegate it to low level R&D for another ten years. I would also wonder if MS held key "augmented reality" device patents thaere were practical?
The thing about Augmented reality is you need the tech for machine vision to see, interpret understand the world; then you need the processing power to make a believable overlay for that world; and they you need the screen technology to put that in front of people eyes....all in real time. All of that tech is still a decade away in not more.
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