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How the Nintendo 3DS Might Handle 3D Display
itwbennett writes "Blogger Peter Smith weighs in with some possibilities for how the new Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming system will provide 3D gaming without the need for 3D glasses. The DSi has cameras, which means the 3DS will have to have them too if it's going to be backwards compatible. We've also heard rumors that the 'next DS' will have tilt-sensors better than the iPhone. With either the camera or tilt-sensors either of these 'faux 3D' systems would work. But since we've seen the DSi do this already, it doesn't seem likely that the new hardware will rely on the same old trick. Enter our friends at Engadget, who uncovered some details from Japanese newspapers. If they're right, the Nintendo 3DS will incorporate parallax barrier LCD screens from Sharp (see also this explanation of dynamic parallax barrier screens). This is the same technology used in a few '3D Laptops.'"
3D adult oriented games incoming
Can I make a phone call with it yet?
When iPhone came on board with games, etc, I knew there will be potentially improved products from Nintendo and eventually Sony/Microsoft.
Competition brings that.
So the more variety of products (iPhone, iPad, Android, etc etc) the better it is for all of us.
Yesterday i was checking anaglyph rendering capability of game i'm playing and then it hit me. Nether anaglyph nor interlaced glasses and probably not even VR glasses are full true 3d. Here is why: :) Well this rant is just to point out that there seems to be no real/true 3d yet unless you clobber something like this yourself using graphics card anaglyph render and some hacked up head tracking. Well one more point that such true 3d would be quite difficult to do for non interactive/non rendered graphics i.e. movies. But some day maybe :)
glasses give you perception of depth that is very cool effect and all, but one thing is missing: you move your head you see different stuff. Now head tracking gives joust that and it is also very cool in itself. Now what i would really like to try is some glasses 3d (preferably non anaglyph, cause anaglyph is hard on eyes) + head tracking 3d (probably can be done much easier tracking glasses) to get real true 3d experience
Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death. - Major Motoko Kusanagi(Ghost in the Shell)
I understand why 3D television is the current fad. Since a decent number movies are now being made in 3D, there is some logic in a range of big-screen TVs for those into their audio-visual experiences. But, for the rest of us? Either you'll have recently upgraded to HDTV and one of the appropriate services (cable, Sky+HD, Freesat, whatever) and be wondering what the fuss was about, or you've up-upgraded one of those services, or your TV.
Similarly with gaming, good on Nintendo for trying something different (ignoring its previous attempt with Virtual Boy [a good title if ever there was one for one of those 3D porn movies]) but 3D in such a small space seems counter-intuitive and even if it works well, I worry about how still you'll have to sit to get the full effect for extended periods. I can see the warning on games for that system saying "take a break every 10 minutes, for at least 30 minutes" - kind of breaking the fun part.
So, give it a few years - when the content is properly there and its more than just crappy Doctor Who trailers that look rubbish in 2D (ie how 90% of the world saw it), and the prices have dropped from bloody stupid to ouch, but I'll do it! Full rant from yesterday; http://bit.ly/9BKiRG
If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
While 3D seems like a simple enough concept, faking 3D on a screen can go several different routes.
the kind you have in theaters or with shutter glasses approximates supplying each eye with a different image just like it would in real life. So what's the catch? well you get the same two images no matter where you sit in the theater. So 1) it can't be perfectly correct for every point of view in the theater 2) you don't see the expected change if you move. that is if you move you'd expect to be able to see around one object blocking your view of another. but that does not happen with this kind of 3D.
then there are ones that try to broadcast a different image at every different angle. You can't really do that in practice so you broadcast one or two images at a couple angles and let interpolation happen.
lenticular lenses and these blocked screen do this second type.
this recovers the head-motion 3d but has the drawback of having less of a sweet spot where each eye gets the perfectly registered image. However even when this fails, it can fall back to monocular 3D where at least the view point is right.
this kind of 3d is better for up close viewing by a single person. that is, for a hand controller.
A final kind of 3D is monocular 3D. there there is one image but you eye track or tilt track in a way that lets you update the image for the new point of view.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
...but I'm more interested in:
Screens that are more resistant to scratches, hinge mechanisms that don't get all loose and weird, higher resolution displays, better sound (with headphones the DS actually puts out decent sound, but the internal speakers are worthless), and larger ad-hoc wifi range.
The DS is a fantastic piece of hardware, don't get me wrong...but those are the improvements I would like to see the most, ESPECIALLY the larger ad-hoc range. When a bunch of friends and I are playing Civ Rev and I have to go to the bathroom, or one of them decides to dip out for a quick cig, it would be nice to be able to keep the wireless connected.
Living With a Nerd
Speculation! From a non-source.
Seriously, who cares how someone thinks they MIGHT or COULD do it? Unless someone has some info as to how they're LIKELY, or PROBABLY doing it (as good as it gets before actual announcements), it's just spitballing and time wasting. Come back when there's at least some evidence of how they'll go.
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
Hmmm... this was just covered on the news this morning (or late last night) where they actually revealed how they are really doing it. Thus, I guess this speculation is late and outdated already...
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Best Buy to sync the cameras for me
Please increase the power. I'm a dissapointed DS owner. The graphics suck so bad for 3d games it's hard to tell what the hell is going on. Things like mario are ok. But trying to play Madden or NFS.
Now that there are a lot of 3D solutions for PCs that actually work, I'd love to see a new version of Descent.
I have NO interest in 3D television. I've seen it back when Pepsi did that 3D superbowl commercial - it was the only superbowl I ever watched and it was to see the 3D advert, and it's nice and all, but I don't want 3D television. Why? If it introduces ANY flicker, I am not interested. If it tempts directors to have things move toward the camera just for the 3D effect, like most 3D movies, it will degrade the quality of productions. Thanks, but no thanks.
What I care about in a television is 120Hz (I see the "stop motion" effect on the big screen throughout the films and I find it really distracting and the 120Hz eliminates that distraction), good black levels and great contrast ratios, and of course, halfway decent sound. Internet "widgets" are a plus, as is online firmware updates, but not a requirement (I rarely ever use the widgets on my Samsung LN46B650 because most of the widgets are so horrible). Widgets for Hulu, Crackle, and most importantly Netflix would be a big WIN.
But 3D? I won't say no one needs it, because I'd be like the open source zealots who try to use Linux for every single client, but I will say that I think it will cause directors to focus (no pun intended) more on using cliche 3D gags than they will on the quality of the dialog.
Oh, and if you think pr0n is going to be the advent of 3D, like HDTV, do you really want to see herpes scars in 3D?
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The controls on the DS change to allow for 3D interaction. Now that would truly enhance the gameplay experience. fail
Idle speculation for nerds. Stuff that's likely completely irrelevant.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Here is a rumor that the 3DS will use the 3M film 3D LCD screen.
The screen is a frame-sequential two-view autostereoscopic system based on directional backlight. The left eye frame is displayed with the backlight applied on one side of the 3M film that directs the light into your left eye, the right eye frame is then displayed with the backlight applied to the other side of the 3M file to direct the light into your right eye.
I have one on the viewfinder of my Fuji FinePix Real 3D stereoscopic digital camera, and it works pretty well. You do have to position yourself fairly precisely in front of the screen to get the stereoscopic effect, but that is not too hard with a portable device.
The Virtual Boy, Nintendo's first attempt at a 3D video game system, was an utter failure; I bought mine a year after its release for 30 dollars, marked down from 200.
I actually kind of liked playing games in 3D, it really does change the experience. But the system game me pretty severe headaches after an hour of playing. I'd like to see how they can avoid that this time around.
3D means you can view more than 2 dimensions. As humans have only 2 eyes, and we get the real life 3d effect from using both eyes, if you provide different information to each eye, you get 3D that is as "real" as anything in real life. It provides specific detailed information about which item is 'in front' of and 'behind' each item, unlike a photograph where you can do silly tricks like make it look like you are pushing the leaning Tower of Pisa over. With these 3D screens, such cheap special effects no longer work.
Holograms however are MORE than 3D. Witha Hologram you can get up and move your HEAD to get something that is beyond simply 3D, but is instead something I would call "immersive".
Asking for immersive 3D and calling regular 3d fake is like saying those photographs you have are not really 2D because they don't move. Bullcrap. The immersion stuff is far beyond 3D and people should stop trying to claim that 3d = immersive Holograms
The problem is, there is no hard line between different levels of immersive. They go from merely being able to move your head to get a different view, to being able to walk around or even THROUGH an object, similar to a star trek Holo-deck.
But that is way way beyond what any normal person calls 3D. Stereoscopic vision, as per lenticular or this "parrallax" viewing counts as REAL 3D. The information is just as much as you get in real life using both eyes.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
We are talking about a low powered, portable toy. Face tracking isn't likely to be part of the trick.
1) There's not enough processing to track the face. You could make it work, but I personally don't feel that it fits in with the pattern Nintendo's previous elegant design solutions.
2) The user will naturally keep their face in the 3D focus sweet spot. An HDTV is hard because people are spread across the room. But for Nintendo, the user is always in front of the screen, and they are always within arms reach.
3) You can use the inertial sensors to change the angle of the sweet spot. People are going to want to see around obstacles (and the game makers want to let them). But you can train users to keep their head in one spot, and roll the DS to see around obstacles. With that Parallax screen, you can adjust the sweet spot based on the amount of tilt of the DS.
Head tracking wouldn't do it.
If you want a true 3D illusion, you need eye tracking and something to determine what the eye is actually focusing on.
Right now when you're looking at a "3D" picture, only certain things will be in focus, everything else will be blurry, no matter how much you focus on them.
Head tracking will do nothing for that.
The story had a related article from earlier. In it, they posted a picture of a GBA next to the DS article...
...unless the next gen DS is going retro on us. :P
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/nintendo-announces-3ds-the-glasses-free-3d-successor-to-the-d/
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I'd much prefer no parallax filter and a camera-based head tracker.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a cool 3D display dubbed pCubee. Imagine the Nintendo 3DS be like this interactive cube, Sony would start taking the 3DS seriously.
Users playing with pCubee experience new interaction techniques for 3D scene manipulation in a cubic display.
Watch the awesome demo video here.
I assume that any of these 3D screen technologies are unable to switch from landscape to portrait without losing either the 3D effect or the picture altogether. That is assuming also that the 3DS will have two unique screens. This may hurt the DS/DSi backwards compatibily aspect. It could also be a single screen device where the screen would be virtually split in two and rotated to portrait for DS/DSi games.