3D Vision Blog

The S-3D Gaming Alliance (S3DGA) is considered as the official voice and standards body for stereoscopic 3D gaming and the organization just got another new member which is the company MasterImage 3D, a leading manufacturer of autostereoscopic 3D displays for mobile devices.

“We see stereo 3D gaming as one of the most vital content categories behind the explosive growth of 3D mobile devices and tablets in 2012. S3DGA has already helped us secure 3D gaming content for our display partners, and we plan to work closely on many programs to help make it easier for game developers to launch content across the latest 3D mobile devices.” – Matt Liszt, VP of Marketing for MasterImage 3D.

The S-3D Gaming Alliance also has a new president – Alan Price who up untill recently worked at Electronic Arts Canada as CTO for over four years. He is currently developing a new venture as an interactive entertainment entrepreneur. In addition to being an advocate for S-3D gaming, Alan’s experience in game development, leadership, and business sense makes him the perfect candidate for this role.

“The stereoscopic 3D gaming landscape is evolving rapidly, and there are new emerging ways we can serve our members and help build and sustain this market. I’m looking forward to the progress we can make together, and am honored to serve as S3DGA’s President.” – Alan Price, President of The S-3D Gaming Alliance.

Last but not least, the alliance is getting set for its annual meeting taking place at the end of The 3D Gaming Summit on September 22nd in Hollywood, California. Guest presentations will be made by Sony Computer Entertainment America, MasterImage 3D, Big Blue Bubble, Dynamic Digital Depth, iGO3D, S3DGA, and more.

- For more information you can visit the official website of the S-3D Gaming Alliance…

The Ministry of Tourism and Culture through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s (OMDC) Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund along with support from Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) in Canada, together with industry and academic partners will provide more than $635,000 in funding to Interactive Gaming Ontario 3D (iGO3D) initiative. The iGO3D initiative’s primary partner is the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), where Dr. Andrew Hogue, assistant professor, Faculty of Business and Information Technology will serve as iGO3D project leader. In addition to UOIT, additional partnering institutions include York University, the University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario, the Ontario College of Arts and Design University (OCADU) and George Brown College. Industry partners include The S-3D Gaming Alliance (S3DGA), Electronic Arts Canada, Bedlam Games, Big Blue Bubble, Digital Extremes, Interactive Ontario and Junction VFX.

“Modern 3D video games are designed according to research done on 3D movies and gamer opinion studies are telling us this isn’t the right way to go,” said Neil Schneider, executive director, S3DGA. “Ineffective stereoscopic 3D viewing negatively impacts hardware sales, game sales and ultimately customer satisfaction. iGO3D will provide us with the ability to change all that with repeatable research and direct industry involvement.”

iGO3D’s research efforts will include investigative issues related to comfort, effectiveness, audio and how the stereoscopic viewing experience impacts gameplay from both the player’s and developer’s perspectives. Other aspects of iGO3D’s mandate include development of a game test facility, further S-3D vision and auditory research with a view to establishing game design parameters and disseminating this information to Ontario’s gaming industry through focused webinars and conferences. And while iGO3D was founded as a research platform for stereoscopic 3D games on desktop displays and 3D HDTVs, efforts are in place to add a specialized division for mobile 3D gaming markets on smart phones, mobile gaming devices and tablets. Interested game developers and technology enablers are encouraged to contact the S3DGA for available iGO3D partnership and sponsorship opportunities.

According to the results from the U-Decide 2011 survey conducted by the S-3D Gaming Alliance almost all gamers do want to get more and more depth when they play their favorite games in stereo 3D mode. As you can see from the chart above summarizing the results from the specific question about what gamers would want to get in an FPS games when playing in stereo 3D mode, over 90% of the respondents want a lot of depth. And almost 40 percent of them want to also get a little pop-out with almost another forty percent what want a lot of pop-out. Getting a lot of pop-out in a shooter, especially if it is a first-person FPS game, is not easily achievable, because of the position of the gun that usually looks best if at screen depth, but that does not stop gamers from wanting more pop-out. Of course gamers do not want to get a lot of depth and some or also a lot of pop-out effects in stereo 3D mode only in FPS games, but in pretty much any game, unlike in 3D movies where you usually get just a bit of pop-out if any at all and moderate depth. This comes to show that the individual needs and requirement by gamers are a far from what the movie makers think should be used in 3D movies in order to be liked by the general audience and also not to make the people new to 3D feel uncomfortable…