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Video Games Expected To Drive 3D Mobile Phone Sales
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Forbes:
"Nintendo started the mainstream push into glasses free (autostereoscopic) 3D gaming with its Nintendo 3DS system earlier this year. While sales were decent for the device, the price point, hardcore focus and lack of killer app games have failed to replicate the mainstream success of Nintendo DSi. But a strong E3 with top-tier 3D games ... should help attract a broader audience to the device, especially once Nintendo offers a price cut. While some have called 3D phones gimmicky, these devices are already commonplace in Asia. And with an influx of new 3D phones entering the market this year, coupled with the Nintendo 3DS, Jim Cameron recently [said] he sees these glasses-free devices as being key for the adoption of 3D TVs in the homes. He said autostereoscopic 3D games will be the entry level for most people to 3D. While the technology for big screen glasses free 3D is still further away, small devices like 3D phones and Nintendo 3DS will show off the technology."
Even a quality gaming system that is part of a phone needs to have a good phone experience as well. Crappy phone + good gaming = mediocrity. Also, am I the only one who thinks this whole 3D push is just more marketing crap? Is the experience unique enough and good enough to make it work it?
And never will be.
"While the technology for big screen glasses free 3D is still further away..."
I was at a manufacturer show A YEAR AGO in Montreal and some of them already had 40 inches autostereoscopic displays.
Stopped reading at "killer app"
MiniDisc players are still fairly common in Japan. Popularity in Asia is a very different thing than popularity here.
Let's get this straight:
The lackluster acceptance of one of Nintendo's weaker offerings in the mobile arena, where it traditionally excels, along with the fact that any use that isn't a complete gimmick will restrict the 3D game to a very limited selection of devices(and we all know how developers love cutting into their potential install base), and the assertion that the feature is big in Asia, a market well known for normally not embracing gimmicks and for accurately forecasting the development of the mobile phone markets of Europe and the Americas, will, in combination with the present unavailability of such screens for larger devices, serve to drive adoption?
Srsly?
if you want a 3D gaming device buy a DS but even the most hardcore gamer needs to send a text, write an email, or make a call every now and then, e.g. phone functionality is a must.
The fact remains that it's cheaper to carry two devices: one feature phone and one not-a-phone. This is because service for feature phones in the United States is still far cheaper than service for smartphones.
I'm wondering how the technology behind the 3DS will work on a screen you can rotate? Will you get 3D in both orientations? How much will the picture quality (in either orientation) be affected while 3D is off?
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Please god no!!!
Wait for it. Wait..... Ahem, taking bets on a future Apple 3DiPad or 3DiPhone. How soon will it come?
Life is not for the lazy.
I think the 3DS's launch lineup is its big problem, more so than the 3D gimmick. I got one a week ahead of the release of Ocarina of Time 3D, and went looking for a game to get to play on it after discovering that the included "games" are really kind of stupid. (And, in the case of AR Games, impossible to play with the 3D on. But I think enough people can explain that.) I wound up buying Link's Awakening DX off the virtual console. Probably the best game available for the 3DS at the time, if you exclude existing DS games.
But OOT3D is out now, so I've been playing it. It's a really good game. Then again, OOT was probably the best game of its time, and this is basically the original in 3D with improved graphics. (The textures are higher-res, and various things that were sprites or pre-rendered are now full 3D models.) There are some user interface tweaks to improve things here and there (for example, boots are now just a regular item that can be toggled on and off with a button).
And, as the subject says, I actually like the 3D effect. I honestly like the way the game plays with actual 3D graphics.
I turned 3D off after completing the second temple.
Really, that's all there is to say about it - despite the fact that I actually enjoyed the 3D experience, I wound up turning it off because it required too rigid a viewing angle for a hand-held device.
Turns out turning off the 3D makes the graphics look somewhat better - the screen is clearer (really, it's a very nice and vibrant screen with the 3D off), and OOT3D at least turns on antialiasing in 2D mode, making the image nicer.
Honestly, the most fun I've had with the 3DS and 3D mode is playing around with the 3D camera.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Having made a lot of 3D content for youtube, I'm quite interested to see youtube update their app for this.
Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
How is this news? Name one application for 3D other than gaming. And no, video doesn't count until there's a decent number of movies available for the platform (DRM optional).
Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
I'm not interested in a 3D phone, for the same reasons i'm not interested in 3D TVs, 3D movies, or 3D games consoles; It's not 3D, it's stereoscopy. Yes, the effect is impressive for 3 or 4 minutes. The headache after 20 is less so.
Good for you if you don't get headaches from moving stereoscopic imaging, but saying that it's going to be powering 3D phone sales sounds like a bad business strategy.
Wait a sec... Who the hell else will buy a 3D phone?!
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Lame... I was hoping this article was about phones getting better EGL or WebGL support for Video Games.
I remember one time when I was testing a "3D" (stereoscopic) device, and it seemed like the coolest thing ever--I felt I really noticed the 3d effect, and it seemed "awesome".
Turns out, the left eye of the glasses wasn't working, and I guess the 3D effect was my own brain inferring the depth the whole time. I'd suggest trying this out if you're ever testing a "3D" technology: cover/close your left (or right) eye and see if it looks more "realiztic" or "cool" than with it open.
Also, as an analogy for audio, how many times have you played mono audio files and not noticed? (hint: anything recorded on a phone or microphone is not stereo) Video is hardly different.
Maybe it's not the price point or lack of killer app games that's keeping the sales down on the 3DS, perhaps is the insane TOS that was mentioned here on slashdot previously. That's the key reason I'll never buy one.