Video: Topps launches 3D Live baseball cards, video cards on deck

Put aside those Pokeman or Bakugan cards kids, Topps is back with a vengeance in an attempt to woo Internet bred sophisti-tots back into collecting baseball cards. Right, Topps, the company that pre-dates Human Growth Hormone abuse and packs a nostalgic smack of dusty pink sticks of chewing gum is back in the game, this time with some help from former Disney exec Michael Eisner. Just hold the special 3D Live card in front of a webcam and watch a three-dimensional avatar spring to life -- rotate the card and the figure rotates in full perspective. The technology provided by Total Immersion also allows collectors to drop the player into simple pitching, batting and catching games using the computer keyboard. Series 1 cards will cost $2 for a 12-pack while a buck snags a fistful of five. The 3D Live series will eventually feature video. Click through for a video demonstration -- trust us, you'll be amazed at what they've done.

[Fred @ Mar 9th 2009 4:44AM]

Yeah... so I hit that read link, and saw exactly what I expected. A card with a bunch of symbols on it for Augmented Reality, something that's been around for years already. So much for being amazed. Never seen Eye of Judgement, Engadget?

[row1 @ Mar 9th 2009 4:48AM]

Something that has been around for years? Well I have never seen augmented reality outside of the class room so I would assume this would be new to a lot of people.

[rock99rock @ Mar 9th 2009 4:51AM]

People that were never interested in the Dungeons and Dragons "realm" probably never saw the game you just mentioned. I know I didn't till you mentioned it. It might have helped that I don't own a PS3. Either way, I'M amazed. Amazed at your snootiness.

[Jimmith @ Mar 9th 2009 5:05AM]

Even mainstream media shoved a bit from Eye of Judgement in the hype phase. This seems to be the exact same technology. It was also showcased a lot as a part of the "PS3 is new technology" stuff they did back then.

Even if most people didn't catch it, I would asume most engadget-reading people had seen it.

[MaxSMoke @ Mar 9th 2009 6:12AM]

There is actually alot of free "Augmented Reality" software floating around. I've used some myself on my PC with a webcam, making my 3D models float in my hand. Look up the program "BuildAR", which will let you play with models. It's free and works great! And if you're a programmer, look up "ARToolKit", which contains all the programming tools you'll need to start playing with reality... at least on your computer screen. The Eye of Judgment is just a game based on similar tools. Augmented Reality has been around for years now. YouTube has tons of videos of these tools in action, although mostly from Japan for some reason. Something about holding Hentai models in your hands, I guess...

[DWells55 @ Mar 9th 2009 7:38AM]

Sure, it's not unheard of technology, but it's pretty cool and it's neat seeing it applied to an old medium like baseball cards. It's been ages since I actually went out and bought any cards to add to my collection, but I think I'll pick up a few of these just for kicks. They look like they'd definitely be amusing enough to justify the few bucks and I'm sure less tech-savvy people will find them pretty interesting. Unlike "Eye of Judgment," baseball cards are a subject material the average person can relate to, so I think these will be decent sellers.

Now, what would be really cool is if you could "activate" multiple cards/players at once and have them interact. For example, have a pitcher throw to a batter who can actually hit that pitch. They could make some basic games out of it using the players' stats as well. Sort of like a digital version of that MLB Showdown card game from like 5 years ago if anyone remembers those.

[Bas @ Mar 9th 2009 9:24AM]

I'm not saying it's not neat, I'm saying I'm not as amazed as Engadget seems to think I should be. Apparently they've never seen AR technology, which is pretty odd for a technology blog. Especially after a mass market video game like Eye of Judgement, which incidentally was covered right here on Engadget.

[Dopefish @ Mar 9th 2009 10:41AM]

Yeah I remember when one of my friends was working on this stuff 5 years ago at Southampton University (UK).

Its really cool tech though, you cant deny that!

[required @ Mar 9th 2009 11:38AM]

I agree with Fred. The PlayStation has been doing this for awhile now. So have advertisers like Mini.

[suicycle.com @ Mar 9th 2009 12:34PM]

From a marketing standpoint, it does not matter to Topps how many technophiles have known about this technology. There are a bunch of people that will buy these cards just because their cool.

[frostymoon @ Mar 9th 2009 7:18PM]

Fred, you beat me to it! I was going to point out the Eye of Judgment game too! I bought it for my Son... I tried to learn how to mess with it and I have no clue what was going on! Since very impressive!

On the augmented reality topic, anyone know of the Gizmondo game system? They had big plans for that type of gaming! An uncompleted game is floating around the net called Catapult.

In my opinion, forget the Sports cards! Let's see some cards from Boris, Ken Kelly, Luis Royo or any other good artist! Yeah, Pokemon / Magic cards would be cool too but I'd like to see cards with Street Fighter type characters! It would cool to put two card next to each other and watch them interact!

[rock99rock @ Mar 9th 2009 4:44AM]

That's pretty sweet.

Dare I say, where are the porn cards?

[Stubb @ Mar 9th 2009 5:11AM]

Congratulations on capturing the immediate thought of 96% of Engadget readers in one short, precise sentence!

[BenJI @ Mar 9th 2009 5:14AM]

porn aside, y in hell out of all these great sports they chose baseball??

i guess cuz its the eziest one to make....just a fat guy on roids swingin

[Stubb @ Mar 9th 2009 5:35AM]

And I think the game situations looks awkward. In fact, the whole 3D "projection". Do you see the camera's view of your desk with your favourite little naked baseball player with his bat?
I would have problems with coordinating that game correctly I assume (reversed left/right and depth). So if you put the cam on the other side of your screen and then put the card on a stick maybe so you could twist and turn it while looking at it, admiring it.

Then again, with porn cards, the projection towards oneself would make more sense. This is surely the master plan once they get enough cash.

[MaxSMoke @ Mar 9th 2009 6:15AM]

Actually, in Japan they DO have porn games that use similar technology. I don't know if the models are... um... "Interactive", but you can hold little 3D porn stars in your hands. I forget the name of the game, but I was quite surprised to see it on the J-List website.

[Gilbert Tang @ Mar 9th 2009 1:15PM]

Dare I say where are the politician cards?

[Daniel S. @ Mar 9th 2009 2:24PM]

They'd better put anti-aliasing to those projections...

[zomg0t @ Mar 9th 2009 4:55AM]

Is anyone else wondering why his crotch is so small?

[BratPAQ @ Mar 9th 2009 5:00AM]

didnt know you got an eye for a crotch ;-)

[zomg0t @ Mar 9th 2009 5:04AM]

kitties need something to scratch.

[insky @ Mar 9th 2009 9:12AM]

Steroids

[Daniel @ Mar 9th 2009 5:00AM]

wow! i am not really understanding how this works, but wow!

[Indyaner @ Mar 9th 2009 11:02AM]

Its based on patern-recognition-routines.

Look for ARToolkit, FLARToolKit or in general Augmented reality on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results.php?search_query=ARToolkit

Especially this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqGAqAFlGg0&feature=related

Look here as well for a commercial-use of FLARToolKit+Papervision3D do try it out yourself:
http://blog.papervision3d.org/2009/02/19/ge-smart-grid-augmented-reality/


greetings from germany

[BratPAQ @ Mar 9th 2009 5:01AM]

im assuming this has software and once the software recognizes the card, it will popout a 3d animation on the pc? knowing hackers, they will tweak the software so you wouldnt need the card anymore, but then again, wheres the fun it that?

[djko3000 @ Mar 9th 2009 5:03AM]

i could see a repeat of what happened with eye of judgement instead - people get scans of all the cards, print them out, computer still recognizes them as the real thing.

[BratPAQ @ Mar 9th 2009 5:16AM]

@djko3000

lol, Topps created this to "battle" the "Internet", but with what you said, the Internet win! nobody won against Internet.

[Uncontrol @ Mar 9th 2009 5:23AM]

This would be cooler with Pokemon.

[Caboose @ Mar 9th 2009 5:29AM]

Pokemon for the win!!!!

[Jarrod @ Mar 9th 2009 6:35AM]

Don't you mean Pokeman... Gosh read the article...

[steviedee @ Mar 9th 2009 6:58AM]

i just checked the date for april fools......
amazing.

[HubBUB @ Mar 9th 2009 6:50AM]

I can see kids running to the stores to buy these cool 3D cards and Topps will eventually adapt the 3D tech to all major sports. As for the adults......the 3d tech will have take on a LIFESIZE proportion for any adults to buy into the 3D tech. Imagine a LIFESIZE 3D playmate in the center of your bedroom doing what playmate DO!!! Can you say......SWEET and WET!!!!!

[mmoffitt @ Mar 9th 2009 7:43AM]

If you read the real release, the 3-D avater appears *on the computer screen*, so the little person on the card is purer fantasy than AD&D. meh.

[Boards of Canada @ Mar 9th 2009 8:11AM]

Ho yes? Fireball... your dead.

[Uncontrol @ Mar 9th 2009 12:39PM]

... duh? What the fuck did you expect?

[dj moon @ Mar 9th 2009 8:17AM]

This is REALLY cool!
I wonder if that is what was used for all those HP commercials
(like the newer one, with Fergie),
and the music video for
Talib Kweli "Hot Thing"?

[Rick @ Mar 9th 2009 11:24AM]

Am I the only one thinking of the living trading cards and portraits from Harry Potter? Schweet.

[Paul @ Mar 9th 2009 11:29AM]

Did anyone notice the sudden hand movement at about 0:48 in the clip? Not sure what happened there...

[Paul @ Mar 9th 2009 11:30AM]

and at 1:11. Is it just the program removing frames from the feed?

[required @ Mar 9th 2009 11:32AM]

Why is the 3D model so circa last millennium? I've seen better on the Nintendo DS.

[Phour ZwanZig @ Mar 9th 2009 1:22PM]

Yeah.. They should use Real 3D video capture rather than CG..

[addicussrex @ Mar 9th 2009 11:43AM]

What no chocolate frogs or dumbledore card?

[Dustin Tiemeyer @ Mar 9th 2009 2:31PM]

Sportsflics on Steriods - now even the cards are on the juice!

[JohnTitor @ Mar 9th 2009 6:38PM]

I say forget the baseball, this could have a lot of potential elsewhere

[FILA @ Mar 9th 2009 6:53PM]

Bodymore Rasie Up!! I saw an Oriole!!

[Kevin K. @ Mar 10th 2009 1:25PM]

(linkback) Cool or Lame? Topps launches 3D Live baseball cards, video cards on deck [VOTE] - http://www.pikk.com/5cfb1

[Eric Bandholz @ Mar 10th 2009 6:15PM]

I'm pretty sure that Nissan is doing the same promotion for their new car the Cube.

[Khalid Al-Amoudi @ Mar 12th 2009 11:30PM]

I could totally see Kaiba Corp. from YuGi-Oh! patenting this technology xD

[Ninja_on_fire @ Mar 20th 2009 8:59AM]

In the Yugioh anime, Kiba Corp. does create a similar system (although using real holograms). It would be amazing if they made this work with yugioh....it would sell so much more.

LOL, I like how they spelled Pokemon "Pokeman"...just like the teachers at school used to do.