Crytek has just announced some very interesting news. It seems that the company is planning to show their CryENGINE 3 in stereoscopic 3D (S-3D) at this year’s GDC expo in San Francisco (11–13 March). It is interesting to note that this actually appears to be the first announcement about something S-3D to be showcased during GDC this year, as I was beginning to wonder if suddenly everyone forgot about Stereoscopic 3D. Lets hope that there will be much more to be seen during GDC in terms of Stereo 3D support, after all the developers need to be aware of the advantages that S-3D can bring into gaming along with how to properly implement game graphics and effects.
But back to the CryENGINE 3, one of the key features of the new engine is the “LiveCreate” feature, which will also be showcased at GDC, and what it does is to allow designers to work with a single editor, but see and play the results in real-time on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With CryENGINE 3, scalability across multiple platforms is a revolutionary development to enable the creation of truly great-looking games – regardless of the target platform. Hopefully this will help a lot to stop seeing some crappy port of a game for one or another platform, especially if other developers adopt similar approach to their game engines.
“After the successful introduction of CryENGINE 3 at last year’s GDC, we are really excited to show the latest version of our all-in-one game development solution this year in stereoscopic 3D. Over the past few years, S-3D technology has emerged as one of the key trends both in movies and games. With CryENGINE 3, developers will have the ability to create their content in 3D on all platforms. There are basically no longer any limits to a designer’s creativity. CryENGINE 3 features many innovations to accelerate development, cut production costs and ensure teams are able to maximize their own creativity without delays,” says Carl Jones, Director of Global Business Development CryENGINE.
It is worth to note that CryENGINE 3 seems to support Stereoscopic 3D natively and does not require additional drivers, or at least that is what Crytek demonstrated during Siggraph 2009 with the engine. And then again even before Siggraph, during GDC 2009, Cytek has also demonstrated working Stereoscopic 3D support with CryENGINE 2 on iZ3D display. Maybe it is about time for Crytek to become a bit more serious and active about S-3D and join an organization like The S3DGA, as there are still not a lot of game engines designed to support stereo 3D gaming. And while the Stereoscopic 3D support in CryENGINE 3 seems to be for PC only at the moment, with PS3 going to be 3D-ready soon and because of the LiveCreate feature of the engine we might see console S3D support too, and not only limited to PS3, but on Xbox 360 too. Still nothing official about stereoscopic 3D support for consoles coming from Crytek…
Lenovo, as a lot of other companies had some new products to launch in time for CES, but what caught my attention was the announcement of their new Intel Core i7-based IdeaPad Y560 model featuring 15.6-inch HD screen (1366×768, meaning HD Ready, not Full HD) and supposedly equipped with a polarized filer and being able to be used to play games in stereoscopic 3D mode. For the graphics there should be one of the new mobile Radeon HD 5730 cards along with a second Intel-based GMA, with the ATI card offering similar performance to Nvidia GeForce GT240 according to some sources. This is not the best option for stereoscopic 3D gaming, but still not so bad for lower resolution usage and especially considering we are talking for a mobile computer. It seems that Lenovo, just like Acer did with their Aspire 3D, are trying to make this laptop in more affordable price range instead of shooting at the high-performance gaming solutions as ASUS did with their G51J-3D.
The guys from Notebooks.com have published the above picture on their website (without much useful info unfortunately) and these clip-on polarized glasses look to be exactly the same as the ones provided with Acer Aspire 3D laptops. And after looking around (there seems to be very little information regarding the S3D support for this model), I’ve found out that as expected the laptop does come with another pair that is for people not wearing prescription glasses that is a bit different from Acer’s. This made me think that Lenovo is following the lead of Acer and is going to introduce a 3D capable laptop with passive polarization, with better CPU and graphics, but with the same screen as Acer’s Aspire 3D and most likely with the same software. And after looking at some Chinese video footage I’ve immediately recognized the video “Voyage to Mars” that is being provided by DDD, confirming my suspicion that Lenovo is also using DDD’s TriDef software just like Acer. According to Lenovo the Y560 should be available in March with a starting price of $849 which should make some competition for Acer, but Acer will probably also update their Aspire 3D model very soon.
I just wonder why nobody from Lenovo did mention anything about Stereoscopic 3D support or using the TriDef software on the Y560 int he official announcement they did for the laptop. This might mean that not all IdeaPad Y560 will have the S3D support, but we’ll have to wait a bit more to see…
IdeaPad Y460 and Y560 Laptops – Turn Up the Dial on Entertainment and Performance
The 14-inch Y460 and 15.6-inch Y560 multimedia laptop with High-Definition 16:9 widescreen are ideal for users looking for the ultimate, mobile entertainment experience. Both the Y460 and Y560 optionally include Lenovo’s new innovative Enhanced Experience RapidDrive technology, which seamlessly combines SSD and HDD storage solutions to deliver even faster Windows 7 boot-up times and significantly improve application performance. Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7 is a unique Lenovo certification that delivers an optimized boot-up and shutdown process, rich multimedia capabilities and easy system maintenance tools. With RapidDrive technology, users can experience Windows 7 boot up 66% faster2, start favorite applications two-times faster3, and copy files within the computer in less than half the time4.
The Y460 and Y560 will be available with JBL-designed speakers and Dolby Home Theater surround sound – perfect for enjoying music and movies. With up to Intel Core i7 processor featuring Intel Turbo Boost Technology for delivering extra GHz when you need it, they feature the Lenovo Energy Management 5.0 for extended battery life and long-term battery durability, as well as lower noise output through dynamic fan control. Switchable Graphics on the Y560 and Y460 allow users to further extend battery life by toggling between performance and energy-efficient modes. Additional features on the Y460 and Y560 include SlideNav intelligent touch-sensitive slide bar application for easy desktop navigation; OneKey Theatre II audio-visual controls for brighter images and clearer audio; and Ambient Light Sensor that automatically adjusts the PC screen brightness based on the user’s distance from the display.
Neil Schneider from MTBS3D.com is at CES 2010 and is already providing us with some very interesting information, even before CES 2010 has officially started. In the video above Neil interviews Steve Venuti, the President of HDMI Licensing with the main focus being the Stereoscopic 3D features and use of the new HDMI 1.4 specifications. There is also some very interesting information regarding the PlayStation 3 game console and its upcoming S3D support that should be added later this year with a firmware update. It seems that this software upgrade for the console will allow it to achieve some of the HDMI 1.4 functionality like stereoscopic 3D support, but the console will not have all of the new 1.4 specifications available, because the Ethernet Channel for instance requires not only new software, but also new hardware. Still we now know that Sony will be adding stereoscopic 3D support by software upgrading its HDMI to 1.4, so when buying a new 3D TV for PS3 you should also look for HDMI 1.4 support available on the TV. What is not yet clear however is if the PS3 will be able to provide 1080p stereoscopic 3D support or it will stock to 720p when playing in S3D mode, but we might as well very soon find out if Sony is going to announce more details about that on CES.
