Hollywood movie director James Cameron says digital 3D technology in movie theatres could be "the next big" in gaming.
The Terminator and Aliens director's new 3D film, Avatar, is due in cinemas next year but Cameron says the stereoscopic projector technology could be extended to other media as well, such as games.
"That digital image can be live," Cameron said at Microsoft's Advance 08 advertising conference. "That digital image can be 3D.
"When you are viewing in stereo, which is what we do, more neurons are firing. More blood is pumping through the brain," Cameron added, noting that FPS games in particular stand to benefit.
"You are in the game," he said. "This is the ultimate immersive media."
Cameron noted that Ubisoft, which is handling game duties for Avatar, already has a stereoscopic game running on Xbox 360 with 3D glasses. But the director says displays for laptops, phones and Zunes can be made to use the 3D tech without even needing special glasses.
"Stereo production is the next big thing," he said. "We are born seeing in three dimensions. Most animals have two eyes and not one. There is a reason I think."
We must admit we were pretty impressed by the digital 3D films we've seen on the big screen, but as has been proved time and time again, the only way this tech will ever succeed in games is without the need for those rubbish 3D glasses. And Quake III 3D would cause real heart attacks.
I'm sceptical - 3d films and games make me think of terrible giant 3d glasses, Disney's Honey I Shrunk the Audience and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker 3D. All of which you leave slightly underwhelmed.
I haven't seen any new Imax 3D films... so maybe there has been a giant leap...
It's already been done with TrackMania (which is free by the way). It does look pretty good, but obviously most of the colours are removed and after a while it really destroys your vision.
I'm so glad there are people like Cameron and Zemeckis standing up for digital 3D media.
It's going to take a long time before people stop seeing it as a gimmick, but if more and more directors and game studios push the technology then hopefully, we can have real 3D games and movies in our living rooms in the next decade.
There is already the ability to play games in 3D using a special type of monitor. I can't remember the companies name right now but I'll get a link once I find the site again unless someone else does that before me. I remember the monitor already supporting existing games.
Yeah, you can get certain expensive monitors that will show the image in 3D, but who's going to buy them?
Getting decent 3D working on a standard/HD TV without having to resort to Red/Cyan filter glasses should be relatively simple to develop for, and look fantastic.
The best way to do it would be alternate-frame sequencing, with glasses with thin LCD shutters that are synchronized with the output from the console, maybe with some sort of USB dongle with a little IR transmitter on the front. That way you would be able to buy as many or as few pairs of extra glasses as you need them. Cheaper than getting a new monitor which you'd only use for certain 3D games.
The 3D effect is really good too, and it doesn't hurt the graphical quality of the game, although it might reduce the framerate a bit if a really complex scene is being rendered.
I think he's right the stero imaging will be great for games, I have been impressed with many IMAX films I've been to see, and a game would stand to benefit enromously if they can get it working right.
Or current hardware isn't that shooting yourself in the foot? It works by projecting the same image from multiple angles, right? For movies that's not a big deal because they stream directly from the disc and DVD read speeds are more than fast enough to pull that off.
But for rendering in games you're putting 2 or 3 times the strain on your graphics card for very little actual benefit.
I managed to see Beowulf in 3D at my local CineWorld. I was impressed with some of the '3D' effects, but most were kind of underwhelming. As for the film itself, well...it was awful in my opinion. I actually have grown so sick of hearing that line "I...Am...Beowulf!" that everytime I hear it I throw in a quick "sick of" between "Am" and "Beowulf". Childish, I know.
Development of 3D technologies as a form of interactive entertainment in videogaming can only work in large scale applications such as full-body immersion. Anything less is a waste, and probably detrimental to the gaming experience. Imagine a goal kick in a game of Fifa almost hitting you in the face before heading back down to pitch level. Well well...very exciting.
beowulf was incredible in 'RealD', INCREDIBLE. non intrusive with a full HD picture and in true colour. 3D has reached the standard where it can be implemented properly.
The thought of this technology in games like quake and GTA makes me wee with excitement.
oh and they should remake the matrix sequals with it too..
You don't need glasses for 3d in games. All you need is a good camera with facial recognition, this keeps track of your heads movement and changes the picture on the screen, which can be any ordinary monitor. I don't know if pc's or consoles are currently powerful enough for this, there is a ps3 demo of it but it's just shapes, but it's deffinetely not a gimmick.
ant it funny that he is promoting his technology to microsoft.he already helped with mass effects technology,guess hes sticking with the top console in the us
I have seen a '3d' film at the London Science Museum's iMax. You don't need stupid red & blue glasses, the technology uses two different pictures that are 'polarised' (see wikipedia article on polarisation, or get a damn education), and glasses with polarised lenses.
There are no coloured filters, but you do wear glasses - regardless, it is bloody impressive.
This tech is already available in LCD screens, but the games have to be written with that in mind - there's no way you're gonna stick current games in and have them miraculously in 3d, get real.
As to the '3d without glasses' thing, not for a while yet, methinks.
Yeah, you can get certain expensive monitors that will show the image in 3D, but who's going to buy them?
New technology is always often expensive when it first comes out but then often become cheaper as time passes.
I also know that there are apparently 3D glasses in the makes which won't have the red/blue tints made you look like a douche. I still have the article if anyone wants me to scan it.
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