3D Gaming

The Time for 3D is Here and Now

London, 2010 has proved the year of 3D, as eight out of the top 20 highest revenue making films at the box office had a 3D version compared to only 3 films in 2009. The market for 3D in television and video games has also made significant progress and is also proving to be extremely profitable.

According to a new report from PwC, “3D Here and Now… a goose that lays a golden egg” this trend will continue and by 2015 over 15 per cent of all films will be produced in 3D.
Vincent Teulade, director, PwC, and author of the report said:

“Twelve months ago the industry was grappling with some fairly major issues. However, some of these major issues have been resolved including standardisation with the definition of a 3D Blu-Ray standard and the progress on HDMI1.4. Also Avatar’s record breaking success has raised awareness of 3D and created an appetite by consumers for 3D movies.”

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Nintendo says 3DS could damage youngster’s eyes

Nintendo has put a health and safety notice on its website stating that the new 3DS handheld – due for release early next year – is unsuitable for young children.

The 3D visuals which the device makes possible could damage young children’s eyesight, the games company explains.

Under-sixes not welcome

Nintendo issued the following statement on its Japanese website, explaining that kids under the age of six could suffer from stunted eye development as a result of using the 3DS.

The 3DS will come equipped with a parental lock which will allow parents to turn off the 3D feature.

Nintendo also advises gamers to rest every 30 minutes in order to not cause undue stress on the eyes.

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Japanese gamers want to play Mario in 3D

Sony is pushing 3D gaming on PlayStation 3 this coming Christmas holiday season and into 2011, with major AAA-titles such as Gran Turismo 5, Motorstorm 3: Apocalypse and Killzone 3 all set to show off the tech.

Nintendo is also pushing its own new 3D gaming tech, with the glasses-free 3DS console set to arrive in the UK later this spring. Microsoft remains firmly on the fence when it comes to 3D gaming, prefering to focus instead on the potential of Kinect in 2011.

Anyone for 3D Mario?

But what are the big gaming franchises that the hardcore gaming fraternity in Japan want to see given the 3D treatment on the big HD screen in their lounge?

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Xbox exec not sold on 3-D gaming

When it comes to 3-D gaming, Phil Spencer isn’t seeing eye to eye with his competitors.

The entertainment industry has been placing big bets on 3-D — it helped the latest “Jackass” sequel earn $50 million at the box office this weekend — and that whirlwind will soon make its way to video games, thanks to Sony and Nintendo.

But Spencer, the corporate vice president for Microsoft Game Studios, questions how accessible the technology is for consumers and describes recent explorations into 3-D gaming as “a science experiment.”

“As an entertainment company, we’re trying to do things that millions of people can go enjoy today,” Spencer said. “And for better or for worse, people just don’t really have TVs in their house right now that are going to do 3-D in a way that’s going to work.”

Sales of the Xbox 360 are on an upswing, jumping by 34 percent in the first eight months of this year versus the same period last year, according to data from market research firm NPD. Similarly, sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 are up 40 percent.

But these trends don’t correlate with demand for 3-D televisions. Shipments of 3-D TVs this year will end up well below industry expectations, based on data from research firm DisplaySearch.

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NVIDIA Launches 3DTV Play, Bringing 3D Vision to the Big Screen

Earlier this year, NVIDIA quietly announced 3DTV Play, a driver add-on for 3D TV owners that would allow them to take full advantage of the HDMI 1.4a port on their 4xx GPUs / 3D Vision GPUs by enabling 3D over HDMI. Without 3DTV Play, the NVIDIA 3D PC experience had been restricted to NVIDIA 3D Vision capable monitors with specialized glasses, and for 3D TVs the experience was limited to just Blu-Ray 3D. Now after some months in limbo, 3DTV Play is finally being released and shifts this experience to the big screen.

Introduction

It is no secret that TV makers are heavily betting on 3D becoming popular to drive sales. However, the market reception has been lukewarm at best due to two reasons. First, 3D TVs are not the ideal home experience due to the necessity for glasses and the health warnings associated with 3D content viewing. Secondly, there is a lack of content from the perspective of both console games and Blu-Ray movies to shift consumers to 3D TVs. There are very few channels broadcast in 3D, and the cost associated with covering events and programs in 3D is much more than the standard 2D broadcast. Studios are unwilling to invest much further in this till the consumer demand for such channels increase. In this scenario, the PC platform emerges as the leading provider for 3D content. In addition to a large number of 3D game titles, we are also starting to get user generated 3D content such as those from the recently introduced Fujifilm 3D camera and Panasonic camcorders. With years of development for the 3D ecosystem behind them, NVIDIA has taken up the opportunity to bring it to the TV platform with 3DTV Play.

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Pachter: 3D gaming is a fad “for the next five years at least”

Speaking in an episode of Gametrailers show Pach Attack, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said he feels 3D gaming is more of a fad than the future.

Pachter thinks 3D TV adoption is going to take a long time is due to the cost of the glasses.

While some consumers will go out and buy a new set for gaming, “the masses won’t” until things are a bit less costly.

“Before adoption becomes widespread, 3D television and movie content will have to become available and glasses will have to come down in price,” says Pachter.

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Ubisoft Executives Predict Half Of All Games In 2012 Will Be In 3D

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot predicts that in the next two years around 50% of all video games will be available in 3D. The games company boss said he had positive talks with a number of 3D TV set manufacturers and that he fully expected the 3D TV market to grow substantially over the next few years.

Guillemot told investors “The 3D games are going to come more and more with the TV screens that are available. We did Avatar last year and the experience was enhanced by the 3D experience. On 360, PS3 but also maybe on portable machines… So we can count on substantial growth on the 3D aspect just because it’s more immersive.”

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3D games from Sony up to 720p

Sony gave a demonstration of the potential of 3D gaming on the Playstation 3 . It turns out that games are not on a higher resolution than 720 p may move . A higher resolution of 1080p, the required refresh rate of 60 frames per second is not always feasible.

At a meeting with game developers , it became clear that games can run at up to 720p if 3D is enabled . The console may be the highest resolution of 1080p, but there is no guarantee that a game can still be played smoothly .
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The 3D Gaming guide: we lay out all your 3D gaming options for you

Until about a year ago the phrase ’3D gaming’ conjured up terrifying images of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, a rather embarrassing failed attempt at creating a console capable of displaying games in ‘real 3D’. While 3D gaming hasn’t achieved success in any meaningful way since then, the technology has continued to mature and, like it or not, gaming is now on the cusp of a 3D revolution. Where Parallax technology failed, Sony aim to succeed with Stereoscopic and Nintendo is once again taking a shot at a 3D console – fortunately this time there’s no head mounted display unit.

For many the re-emergence of 3D into the gaming consciousness sparks more confusion than excitement, there are a number of different options available for gaming in 3D, all of which provide different experiences and require you to invest in various pieces of hardware. To save you considerable time and effort wading through the options, we’ve created a handy little guide to help you get stuck into some serious 3D gaming – Viva La Revolución.

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5 reasons why gaming will spearhead 3D

3D is here and its natural home the world of video games
James Cameron’s Avatar kicked 3D to the forefront of people’s minds. But it was different to the 3D experiences we’d seen before. This wasn’t one of those 15 minute cartoon demo reels where everything flies, bends and explodes out of the screen just for the sake of slapping you in the face. Avatar brought depth to the on-screen world in a much more subtle and sophisticated way.

Now 3D is upon the world of video games as well but will the third dimension be able to have the same effect on our humble home boxes as it has on the silver screens of Hollywood? We say yes, without a doubt. In fact, not only do we believe that 3D will have a big impact on the way we play our games but that video games themselves will be the driving force behind the growth of 3D and the pioneers of what we can do with the new tech. Here’s why:
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