3D Projection Rumoured to be The Revolution

mars soup eel writes "Cube.IGN is reporting that Brooke Burgess (of Broken Saints) has let the proverbial cat out of the bag concerning Nintendo's new Revolution console. The big secret (assuming the rumors are true)? 3D projection." From the article: "At the core of the theory sits how Revolution will display games: through a form of real-time 3D projection. That's right folks, along the lines of a classic 50s monster movie. Nintendo itself has stated that what it plans to use on Revolution isn't all that unique, only that it has never been applied to videogames. Taking that into account, plus recent patents filed by Nintendo, and it doesn't sound all that far fetched, argues Burgess." As always, take this with a grain of salt.

Comments

Not a bad idea...

[black mariah]

If they can implement this and do it RIGHT then I'll be impressed. While this smacks of Virtual Boy 2, I'd really like to see something like this made to work right.

Re:Not a bad idea...

[MBCook]

I loved the Virtual Boy, but my worry is the glasses. My guess is wireless LCD shutter based glasses if all this is true. The problem is I wear glasses (basically blind w/o 'em). I have never seen any kind of 3D glasses system that works well for people like me. This would be the biggest problem to solve.

As for gyroscopic controllers, I'm not sure how well that would work, but if anyone can do it, Nintendo can. The touchscreen controller idea sounds good, but reminds me a bit of the Jaguar's 12 button section on the controller you put button guides around. But the touch screen opens up MUCH more possibilities.

Re:Not a bad idea...

[Malor]

IMAX glasses don't have shutters and don't blink. There is no blinking in IMAX at all. The IMAX system uses polarized light; one eye is polarized vertically and one is polarized horizontally. The light projected on the screen comes from two separate projectors and is also polarized. The glasses reject the 'wrong' light for each eye and allow only the 'right' light through. (If you take the glasses off, you will see two images projected on the screen.)

That's the reason you can't quite see the flicker. It's imaginary.

Re:Not a bad idea...

[PhosterPharms]

I was about to call shenanagans on this one until I found out that there are two systems for IMAX3D. The system you are talking about sounds like the one used at Disneyland with the pink glasses on rides like Captain EO, or the Muppets one or the Honey I Shrunk the Kids one, which I have absolutely no problem viewing and find very entertaining and convincing. They used to have an informative video before Captain EO that explained how they polarized the light and whatnot.

The only IMAX3D movie I saw was at the Luxor in Vegas, and I had to wear these big, bulky grey shutterglasses. You had to push a button at the beginning of the movie to calibrate them if I recall correctly. I know the difference between shutterglasses and the polarized glasses from Disney. Just to reiterate, this shutterglass movie was horrible and I would never see any IMAX3D movie again for fear that it uses the shutterglasses. For linkage verifying that there are two types of IMAX3D, check out this page at IMAX.

Hm

[FLAGGR]

How would culling work? Does it like project a 3D scene out into your room, if so then it would have to be a pretty powerful machine, since you couldn't cull none visible polygons. What would the viewing distance on something like this be? Hmm I'm having a hard time imagining but major props to the big N if they pull it off.

That's right

[briancnorton]

The revolution will not be televised!
Well, at least not like normal.

Bogus Speculation

[iridium_ionizer]

Nintendo itself has stated that what it plans to use on Revolution isn't all that unique, only that it has never been applied to videogames. Taking that into account, plus recent patents filed by Nintendo, and it doesn't sound all that far fetched, argues Burgess.

The "argues" implies speculation. Furthermore, I say it is bogus because even if Nintendo doesn't want to remember Virtual Boy, certainly they remember 3-D World Runner for the NES.
http://www.gamespot.com/nes/action/3dbattlesofworl drunnerthe/index.html?q=runner

I think it came with glasses. And although the 3-D mode wasn't top notch, it was 3-D. You could also turn the 3-D mode off. Have fun by running around a planet in four directions (NSEW) fighting impressive sprite dragons (although they didn't look like real dragons they did look quasi 3D).

Re:Bogus Speculation

[Jafafa Hots]

Well, my Vectrex, which is still in the basement, had great 3-d done with goggles with a spinning color disc in them.

I have yet to see this 3-d gaming system, circa 1982, topped.

Already proven false

[Anonymous Coward]

Burgess's article has since been debunked. The patent he bases his speculation on is for an in-game camera system. There is absolutely no mention of 3D projection technology.

The other support for his speculation was that Nintendo demo'd a new peripheral for the Gamecube behind closed doors at E3 2004, but this ended up being the microphone that shipped with Mario Party 6.

This is the most halfassed "next generation console" rumor ever perpetrated. Burgess was too lazy to do thirty seconds worth of reading and now he's being rewarded with lots of hits from curious fanboys.

*sigh*

Not likely

[PhoenixOne]

Unless I'm missing something, I'm thinking this isn't real or it will be the last console Nintendo ever makes.

If the 1990's VR craze has taught us anything, it is that most people do not like wearing things on their head and I doubt they have come up with a way to "beam" these images into thin air.

More power to them if they want to innovate new gaming technology but this is so out of left field that I doubt any developer outside of Nintendo would try to do anything with it.

Re:Not likely

[simcop2387]

There's actually an OGL wrapper that does exactly this, i've played with it a bit but i didn't have even any red-blue glasses with me so it was kinda moot, its got linux support also. worth checking out

its called VRiser
http://futurelab.aec.at/vrizer/

Didn't they try this before?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gpod help me if I could only find the links but...

I think around E3 2000, or 2002, or somewhere in between then and now (vague enough for you? sorry), Nintendo had a large snow-globe-looking 3D projection system they were going to unveil at E3 that year. It was an add-on for the N64 if I recall correction, and I remember seeing pictures of it (probably mock ups?), but when E3 finally came around the device was a no-show.

It sounds like this is just a repitition of where they were headed then, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned it yet. It honestly looked like a flop to me, but was so "out-there" that I thought it would get more attention or at least be remembered with this latest post.

The journalistic pillar!

[focitrixilous P]

It comes from IGN! Surely this is truth.

Wait. IGN is right on par with supermarket tabloids.

In other news, Princess Peach is pregnant with Master Chief's child! See page 11!

Bullshit

[ThePolkapunk]

This is a load of crap. Nintendo has repeatedly said that this will operate conventionally on the television, and that the "revolution" for the system is the method of control. This guy has no idea what he's talking about. Just tossing out more fud that slashdot is gleefully snatching up.

One good reason

[tprime]

I can think of one really good reason why a major VISUAL change will not be what the "Revolution" is all about.

How do you port titles from the xbox2 and ps3, which regarless of what MS and Sony say are fundamentally similar, to a system that will require a totally different setup. This especially is true for a console that has recently been trying to mend fences with developers. Nintendo would need Sony-like power over its developers to even think about trying something this drastic.

On the other hand, 1st party titles would be impressive.