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Toy Story Mania & G-Force games to include 3-D glasses at retail
Disney has sent word that two of its upcoming releases, Toy Story Mania! and G-Force, will each include two sets of 3-D glasses at retail. When Toy Story Mania! was first announced in March, Disney told us it was on the fence about including the glasses right away. Both games offer unique features for use with the spectacles. In Toy Story Mania! two players can wear the glasses in a specific 3-D enhanced game mode, while G-Force will allow a spectator to view the onscreen action in 3-D. Of course, if the future of all entertainment is too much for some gamers to handle, the feature can be manually disabled. G-Force is scheduled to hit stores alongside the movie -- on which the game is based -- in July, while Toy Story Mania! ships this fall.
Telefnica and Philips testing no-glasses-necessary 3D IPTV, got ???18,000 we can borrow?
São Paulo, Brazil stand up, you're first in line for auto-stereoscopic (read: no glasses) 3D IPTV broadcasts courtesy of Telefónica/TVA and, we assume, that swank WOWvx-powered 1080p 52-inch Philips 3D HDTV promised to hit shelves by year end. Fortunately it now has a price, unfortunately, that price is €18,000 and requires you live in the Jardins neighborhood, hooked up to its fiber network in order to have the capacity to suck down all that 3D. Consumer accessibility is pegged at "inside three or four years", so you start saving, the SMPTE will figure out how to make it all work, and we'll sit back and remember how awesome Captain EO was that one time at Epcot Center. Everyone has to do their part.
SMPTE working out how to bring 3D home
One of the many reasons our killer Captain EO home theater setup hasn't become a reality yet is because even with more than a few kinds of 3D HDTV equipment on shelves, there's no standard that guarantees that next Hannah Montana Blu-ray disc will be able to take advantage of it. The SMPTE hopes to change all of that, establishing a task force (has anyone asked the 3D@Home Consortium how they feel about it?) with the mandate of creating a standard for 3D "content distributed via broadcast, cable, satellite, packaged media and the Internet and played-out on televisions, computer screens and other tethered displays". The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers are the fine people behind nearly every way you currently experience AV at home, so after the inaugural meeting August 19 and six months to create a report (EE Times notes actually setting a standard could take 18-30 months, so don't move the furniture yet), really all that's left is to explain our Michael Jackson infatuation.[Via EE Times]
Avatar game is 3-D, coming mid-2009, Ubisoft confirms
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Avatar_game_is_3_D_coming_mid_2009_Ubisoft_confirms'; Speaking during the Ubidays 2008 conference in Paris today, Yves Guillemot confirmed that the "wonderful" game adaptation of James Cameron's Avatar (not The Last Airbender) would use a new, true 3-D technology developed by Ubisoft, which will presumably be used in other unannounced projects as well. Guillemot did not comment on Cameron's so-called revelation that Avatar will require standard, polarized some form of 3-D glasses to enjoy the screen-popping action (though we continue to assume it will). He did note, however, that the game is expected to ship in the middle of next year, likely coinciding with the fim's release (also 3-D) in summer 2009.
Hannah Montana makes a 3D first on Blu-ray
Concerned you might not be able to experience the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour properly in your home theater? Worry no more, the biggest 3D movie ever is making a HD first, when it hits Blu-ray August 19 it will include 2D and 3D viewing options. If 1080p 3D video isn't enough, the live concert flick also features uncompressed 7.1 PCM audio, a tour documentary and two bonus tracks. No word if it will come with requisite glasses or anything else necessary to get that extra D With a movie that did unprecedented numbers at the box office, this is sure to be one of the year's biggest releases and with never-before-seen options, might be a good reason to share the home theater with your favorite 'tween.
Komamura's two-headed Horseman 3D camera
Yeah, you could read Engadget's extensive guide on how to shoot and make your own anaglyph 3-D images, or you can snag a Komamura Horseman 3D with stereo lenses, which was apparently quietly spotted at PMA last month. It's apparently due get the whole real-world-release treatment this summer, so even though we rarely, if ever, do analogs -- and believe you us, we do wish it was digital because really, we can't actually even imagine buying ourselves an analog at this point -- we know there are some out there who'd be stoked to have one. And the rest of us, will just have to wait for a digital mod or back. And an importer.[Via The Online Photographer and Gear Live]
ColorLink's ColorComb take on 3D monitors
We love 3D, who doesn't? We'll stop at nothing to get that third dimension, you know? We put up with anaglyphs, crazy glasses, polarized glass, but ColorLink's ColorComb eyepieces (yeah yeah yeah) have an angle on the Z-axis we've never seen taken before (no no no). Their new stereoscopic 3D headgear uses those already-on-the-market six-color LED backlit LCDs to simulate 3D, and can also be used like Sharp's dual-angled screens to enforce privacy or display multiple virtual-optical screens. They also had a 17-inch SXGA 3D monitor they announced, but we aren't yet clear whether that uses the same backlit LED panels necessary for taking advantage of their ColorComb. We know, we know, wearable 3D anything will never be the same as the taunting help me Obi Wan we've been chasing for nearly 30 years, but for now we'll takes what we can gets.[Via Let's Go Digital]
Super Console Wars puts spin on mascot Gamepires
We've seen Mario in the Matrix, Luigi as a Braveheart, and what we thought was everything in between. Well, hold up, 'cuz now we've seen everything: classic game icons have been mashed up with Star Wars.Super Console Wars: The Gamepire Strikes Gold is that hybrid that with good and evil roles spread out onto each platform and various gaming mascots, ranging from Mario clone troopers vs. Princess Zelda to a VMU droid and GPU-enabled android (erm, peripheral).About two-thirds of the way through the 20-minute video, you're gently encouraged to wear 3D glasses to enhance your video viewing, but even without glasses, the parody stands as an amusing take-off of gaming standards, pop culture, and retro reminiscing. Obi-Wan Shinobi, indeed.[Thanks, Cradrock]See also: Super Mario Reloaded Ready for an "Oldschool Revolution"?
