Joystiq

id's Todd Hollenshead: 3D gaming will probably have to wait

Mike Schramm — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

So there we were at the wedding last weekend -- our cousin Video Gaming and his fiancée 3D were all set to tie the knot, when Uncle Todd stood up at the rehearsal dinner table and said what most of us were thinking. "Maybe we're getting to the point," he said loudly while spilling a little champagne, "where the people who have been pushing 3D, or are pushing 3D now, have figured out a way to make it cool and not so nerdy that nobody wants to do it." The rest of the room gasped, gaming looked really confused, and 3D ran out the back door, her eyes filling with tears.

Hollenshead had a point, though -- it's been a really quick romance, and while gaming's certainly attracted to 3D (who wouldn't be -- Avatar made her look super hot), the couple's definitely been pushed together by the two families. But maybe Uncle Todd was right when he said that the relationship "has to be more pervasive and more widely adopted before it makes sense for videogame development companies to invest."

We talked it over with Video Gaming, and he agreed that maybe they should take it a little slower -- spend some more development time together, sell a few more solid titles and then we'd talk about an actual marriage. 3D was kind of bummed out by the whole thing, but everyone agreed that as much it would cost to lose the deposit on the reception hall, the cost of going through with a troubled marriage would be even worse. As Uncle Todd put it, "the TVs are f***ing expensive. Is there enough content to justify?"

id's Todd Hollenshead: 3D gaming will probably have to wait originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony limiting use of 1080p 3D in PS3 games

Kyle Orland — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Sony's official guidelines for 3D gaming on PS3 limit the displayed image to a resolution of 720p, a Sony representative confirmed at the Develop conference this week.

Even games that run natively at 1080p resolution, like Super Stardust HD, are downscaled in 3D mode to two 720p images (one for each eye), Sony's Simon Benson explained during a demo of the technology at the conference. While the PS3 is capable of displaying a 1080p 3D image -- indeed, it will support 3D Blu-Ray movies at that resolution later this year -- Benson said upping the resolution comes at the expense of the silky-smooth 60 frames per second available at 720p (Blu-Ray movies run at 24 frames per second). Benson said that a "more cinematic game" might be well-suited for the lower frame rate and higher resolution, but that Sony's current guidelines for 3D games wouldn't allow for such a setting.

The effects of this policy are probably unnoticeable to most gamers. Benson said that, in 3D, even trained computer graphics artists could barely tell the difference between the resolutions. Still, for all you pixel counters out there who obsess over "full HD 1080p," here's another bit of technical trivia for you to argue over.

Sony limiting use of 1080p 3D in PS3 games originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 Terms of Service updated to reflect possible 3D health risks

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Sony Online's Terms of Service was recently updated to warn users of the new dangers that PlayStation 3 poses to them and their loved ones: the harmful effects associated with prolonged viewing of a 3D display. The terms specify "discomfort (such as eye strain, eye fatigue or nausea)" as one of the unpleasant side effects. (Click past the jump to see the full cautionary addendum.)

Additionally, the update warns parents of children under the age of six to consult a doctor before allowing them to play 3D games. Why? Because their tiny brains can't handle all the non-stop, in-your-face action that the extra dimension provides. (Also, because it's bad for their eyes, apparently.)

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PS3 Terms of Service updated to reflect possible 3D health risks originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft waiting for more 3D adoption before joining the race

JC Fletcher — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:45:00 EST

Sony is pushing 3D gaming as a companion piece for its high-end televisions. Nintendo is bundling a 3D gaming system with its own, tiny high-end television. Microsoft, the first out of the gate in the current generation with the Xbox 360, is hanging back from the 3D race. Even though the Xbox 360 is capable of displaying 3D visuals (as it did for the Avatar game), Xbox head of global marketing Albert Penello told CVG that the company is happy to be behind the curve in terms of making a major push.

"We're going to take more of an attitude of seeing what the adoption looks like," Penello said. "Right now, there's nothing technically that we can't do on the 3D side - we already have games out there today." He reminded CVG that Microsoft is not totally opting out of 3D gaming: " But for us right now, we're more on the 3D input take, you know, revolutionising things with Kinect." In other words, in Nintendo-land, you look at games in 3D. But in Xbox-land, games look at you!

Microsoft waiting for more 3D adoption before joining the race originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo 3DS handheld announced, more news at E3

Mike Schramm — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:44:00 EST

A press release on Nintendo's Japanese website appears to confirm the company's next handheld console, temporarily named the "Nintendo 3DS," and said to include hardware and software that will enable "3D effects" without the need for special glasses. The console is stated to be backwards compatible with DS and DSi games and is expected to go on sale (in Japan, presumably) "during the fiscal year ending March 2011" -- so within the next year. The press release has no pictures or other information, and save for the fact that it appears as a file on Nintendo's website, there's no other official word about the new hardware.

There are a few dots to connect, however: 3D gaming is on the rise, and a few other companies have also experimented with head tracking as a way to implement 3D effects. Nintendo's own Satoru Iwata hasn't been impressed with 3D gaming in the past, but his issue is with the glasses, not the technology. "I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home," he said recently. We've also heard that the next handheld would have a "movement sensor" of some kind, so if Nintendo really has designed a head-tracking 3D solution, then maybe the console is ready to go. The press release, which you can read after the break in full, says we'll see more at E3, so stay tuned.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Source -- Nintendo (PDF)

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Nintendo 3DS handheld announced, more news at E3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3D gaming is now big enough for its own summit

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST

Spinning off of the annual 3D Entertainment Summit, Unicomm announced intentions late last week to launch the "3D Gaming Summit" in April 2010. Headed up by former head of the Hollywood Reporter Bob Dowling and Connecticut-based event management company Unicomm, the two-day event is set for April 21 and 22 at the Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles. According to a press release issued by Unicomm, the summit's aim is to "attract the brightest minds in the gaming industry" and "define the market opportunity for 3D stereoscopic gaming and entertainment."

"Consumers are leading the way to pervasive 3D entertainment," commented Unicomm CEO John Golicz, lest we forget that 40 million of us will have the new technology within the next four years (there might even be something in your house capable of 3D film viewing right this minute!). Though the release didn't specify any major gaming publishers or developers signed on for the event, it noted that "key sponsors" will help to "highlight 3D gaming technology." We might still be skeptical, but after what we saw last year at CES from Sony, and our recent IMAX 3D experience with James Cameron's Avatar, we're (at very least) interested in what 3D tech in gaming has to offer.

3D gaming is now big enough for its own summit originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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