The Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Conference has just announced that they will be holding the first SD&A Stereoscopic Game Competition at the February 2014 conference in downtown San Francisco. No, this is not a stereoscopic 3D game playing competition, instead the aim of the competition is to encourage the creative use of stereoscopic depth in exciting new game designs. A panel of expert judges will review the game designs and the winner will receive a cash prize of $1000. Games will be judged at the conference, however the game, or a video of the game, and a 500 word introduction must be submitted two months before the conference start. You must also register your interest in entering the competition not later than 22nd of July, 2013. The SD&A 2014 conference will run 3-5 February 2014 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square hotel, USA.
Usually when you want to play games in stereo 3D mode you get all the required hardware and software in order to be able to play as many games as available and working well in stereo 3D mode, however there are exceptions. One such exception is if you only play an online racing simulator such as iRacing and you need to make it more realistic by playing in stereoscopic 3D mode. DDD has released a special limited version of their TriDef 3D package that is especially meant only for players racing in the iRacing online racing simulator. The TriDef 3D for iRacing will only support tht game and is available for $4.99 USD, it will work with Line Interlaced (FPR) displays, HDMI 1.4 3D TVs/monitors (if your graphics card supports AMD HD3D) and Anaglyph glasses. Of course if you already have a full TriDef 3D license you can also play the game in stereoscopic 3D mode, furthermore the online racing game iRacing is also supported by 3D Vision with an Excellent rating for the stereoscopic 3D compatibility it offers. Have in mind that the iRacing online racing simulator is not a free game, it is a subscription-based title.
It seems that at the moment the shipping process of the first dev kits of the Oculus Rift is a bit of a mess. The team at Oculus started shipping the first units already, but it seemed that they were only shipping to US/Canada with the international orders expected to start shipping a bit later on. My order number was 142 and the online system still says my order is being processed for shipping and I just got back from the customs after clearing my Oculus Rift dev kit. It has been shipped on 28th of March and arrived yesterday wit UPS and I’m based in Europe. Now I’m off to trying the kit out and you can expect my first impressions a bit later, I’ll also publish additional information when and where you would be able to try out dev kit if you are interested in it and happen to be living or passing by Sofia, Bulgaria.
