Better 3D Glasses Due From DarkWorks for TriOviz-Based Games
LOS ANGELES -- Paris game developer DarkWorks plans to ship sturdier, plastic 3D glasses at $20 a pair “by the end of this year” for titles that use the TriOviz technology it licensed that allows 3D content to be viewed on existing 2D TVs as well as any 3D TV, DarkWorks said at E3 here last week. The technology was demonstrated using the Epic Games-developed Gears of War 2, a title that wasn’t released in 3D, at E3, behind closed doors in the booths of Epic and DarkWorks.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The technology, a variation on the anaglyph 3D technique, was already used for a major game release, Warner’s Batman: Dark Asylum, which shipped last year with 3D glasses that had paper frames. The TriOviz technology pulls data from a depth buffer and then uses color separation to add the illusion of depth to a scene in real time. Color separation 3D has been used for years via the traditional, red and blue anaglyph process. The TriOviz system, however, takes it a step further by using a game engine’s data to detect the orientation of a camera and the 3D effect created is based on that, along with the available depth information.
The TriOviz-based glasses also feature filtered lenses, each lens with a different color, like traditional anaglyph. The plastic glasses that Consumer Electronics Daily used to view the game Gears of War 2 in 3D at the DreamWorks booth allowed us to see the game in 3D on a Samsung 55-inch LCD 3D TV that was set to a 2D TV position. But there was no demo given on a 2D TV. The quality of the effect seemed somewhere in the middle ground between anaglyph and a true, high-end stereoscopic presentation on a 3D TV. The color separation wasn’t nearly as intrusive as that of the anaglyph glasses we've used for years with 3D movies and TV broadcasts. But the glasses didn’t securely or comfortably fit over our eyeglasses. DarkWorks is considering the fact that many consumers wear glasses and the improved 3D glasses that it ships will take that into account, said Alexis Arragon, its product development manager.
The technology provides developers with flexibility on how they employ 3D into a game, a DarkWorks spokesman said, telling us the technology can be added after a game has already been developed in 2D. It’s also more cost-effective than other solutions for adding 3D to a game and it produces less eye strain after hours of use, Arragon said. DarkWorks provides a 3D software development kit (SDK) for game developers and also can help developers implement the technology into their games, Arragon said. On 3D TVs, games made using the technology will work with any current 3D glasses, he said. DarkWorks charges 7,000 euros to implement the technology into another company’s game, and the SDK costs 30,000 euros per title and for each platform with a discounted rate of 80,000 euros for three platforms (PS3, Xbox 360 and PC), he told us.
The technology is compatible with 2D LCD, DLP and plasma TVs, laptops and monitors, as well as DVD and Blu-ray players, existing set-top boxes for broadcast TV, broadband TV and video on demand, and the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, DarkWorks said.
DarkWorks is “considering” whether to achieve compatibility with the Nintendo Wii, Arragon said. It’s part of the company’s R&D effort, he said. But “there is a technical challenge” to overcome there due to the lower resolution of games for that system, he said. DarkWorks is focused for now on higher-quality games first because those titles tend to “really shine” in 3D, he said. DarkWorks “didn’t have the time to” test the TrioViz solution with autostereoscopic displays that don’t require special glasses to achieve a 3D effect, he said. But he said the solution should work with that technology. “Ultimately, we don’t really care if the TV uses glasses or not,” he said.
There are “several developers and publishers who are evaluating the solution now” for their games, some asking that DarkWorks also implement the technology into their games, Arragon said. He declined to name the companies. But he said, “There will be several announcements by the end of the summer."
E3 Notebook
Nintendo implemented a concept approval process that third-party videogame publishers have to agree to before they can develop a game for the coming 3DS handheld system, Majesco Entertainment Director of Marketing Liz Buckley told Consumer Electronics Daily at E3. Such a process wasn’t required for third-party game makers to develop games for other DS systems or the Wii console, she said. But Majesco is used to such a process when making games for Microsoft and Sony game systems, she said. Nintendo is “being selective about content” for the coming system, she said, saying she expected the process won’t be a problematic one for Majesco. Nintendo of America didn’t comment by our deadline. The new Nintendo system provides 3D effects without the need for users to wear special glasses. Majesco is developing six 3DS games: BloodRayne: The Shroud, A Boy and His Blob, Face Racers: Photo Finish, Lion’s Pride: Adventures on the Serengeti, a Martha Stewart title and WonderWorld Amusement Park, Nintendo said.