Official E3 Nintendo Conference Thread 2010

Kirby looks awesome. They came up with some really awesome mechanics with the zippers and stiching. It's some great creativity, and looks great. The way the backdrop gets pulled together with the stitching, or falls away from the zipper is really cool. Plus, in general the animation and artwork is fantastic.
 
I'm going to want 3DS XL, that thing is just too small for me. XL version with 7-8" screens or something and better ergo. The games seems to be typical Nintendo, their real killer apps probably be announced closer to launch.

The hardware seems to be around Gamecube and Wii level. Lots of resolution though, that 3D screen is 800x240 and second one is 320x240. I wonder if it can do polygons in both screens this time around.

Gotta try the 3D myself though, probably won't work on me.
 
I'm going to want 3DS XL, that thing is just too small for me. XL version with 7-8" screens or something and better ergo. The games seems to be typical Nintendo, their real killer apps probably be announced closer to launch.

Can the 3d display be scaled up that easily?
 
Normal 3DS has to be usable for kids, so at least for a grown up a slightly larger screen presents no problem technology wise (whether the barrier approach works depends on the FOV the screen fills). Of course the display will get more expensive, does the size of the market justify a 3DS XL at this point? Probably not, maybe when the hardware gets cheaper.
 
Without glasses, I'm not aware of any stereoscopic technology that works for multiple viewers. I doubt space projecting technologies will be commercialized in my life time, if ever.

Kind of funny, I wrote a research paper on 3D gaming about two years ago and seeing these stuff fruit in my face right now is kind of a funny feeling.


Actually there is, I remember something that requires you to view at the screen for a while and cheating the eye to view at two different frames a while back. Not sure where that has gone though.


Another one is the virtual retinal display that also solves the focal point problem (which current displays don't address at all), but I believe that the technology is still quite far from being commercialized.



The problems I see with 3Ds would mostly be the following

1. relative stiffness you'd have to hold the device (at a certain angle at a certain distance, and no vibrating)
2. the relatively large percieved angular pixel size. (this needs to be justified by the pixel resolution of 3DS, but oh well)
3. inability to do landscape view vs portrait view, that sort of stuff, (but this is minor)

other people viewing off center would not get a 3D view but I think that doesn't make that much of a difference, at least they still get a relatively working 2D view.
 
other people viewing off center would not get a 3D view but I think that doesn't make that much of a difference, at least they still get a relatively working 2D view.
If they use Sharp's barrier displays this isn't necessarily true ... with barriers/lenticulars, the viewing zones repeat. So at the wrong angle you could see a mix image.
 
Best of the three platform holder E3 conferences by far. Reggie is just a great presenter, and he had a good script, too. No awkward "Thanks, Reg-dawg!" *backpat* *armhump*/"Thanks you guys, such amazing work from you there, good stuff, really!" handoffs. No overstated excitement. Just a low-key, concise show of content. I approve.

The Zelda showing was embarrassing of course, but I had already decided to not play another motion-controlled Zelda, and for exactly the reasons that were evident there. So for me that's not even a loss. I just hope they learn something from it, eventually.

Everything else was great.

I think there's some weird platform convergence in our near future. I can see the 3DS gaining tons of games (ported or otherwise) that would previously be exclusive to the PSP, due to the new analog nub. Conversely, the PS3 may see an influx of former incidental Wii exclusives ported to a Move control scheme, e.g. stuff like Silent Hill and the rail shooters -- Dead Space Extraction is already confirmed.
 
The Zelda showing was embarrassing of course, but I had already decided to not play another motion-controlled Zelda, and for exactly the reasons that were evident there. So for me that's not even a loss. I just hope they learn something from it, eventually.

For what it's worth, people played the new Zelda and said it works. I've heard caveats about how the game isn't 1:1 and how the new types of slashes lend themselves to some gimmicky fighting, but not problems with it simply not working.
 
he Zelda showing was embarrassing of course, but I had already decided to not play another motion-controlled Zelda, and for exactly the reasons that were evident there. So for me that's not even a loss. I just hope they learn something from it, eventually.

I didn't think it was embarrassing at all - at least you could see they were doing this live. Of course sometimes things go wrong, but it's worth it. Of course there's a risk that some people will now think that Zelda's Motion+ doesn't work, but those are going to be very few (not that many uninformed people watch E3, despite what some people may lead you to believe ;) ), and then it's also easily corrected. I liked the ideas for Motion controls a lot, personally, and am happy that we'll be getting a sort of similar experience on Move in Heroes on the Move. But Zelda has a much bigger pedigree, and such a long running series thrives on neat innovations like these.
 
"Embarrassing" was maybe too strong. A bit of a bummer, though, at least. Miyamoto was struggling with the controls the whole way through, had to redo attacks that didn't register or registered wrong (horizontal vs vertical slashes) etc. Sometimes the return motion back to neutral position triggered a response, but not the first, intended motion. It was not just lag, and it was not just trouble with specific items. Spinning out with the bow was the most obvious issue, but if you watch the presentation you'll see how he had to fight the controls the whole time.

It's good to hear that it worked fine on the floor.
 
Yeah but it was clearly an interference issue from some device on the show floor. Maybe someone was running that wii-motion controller emulator as a background app on his hacked iphone, but whatever the source, it clearly wasn't an issue on the show floor, just as a lot of faked stuff in the MS conference was real on the show floor (at least stuff from this years conference ...)
 
The 3DS is really a product Nintendo should be taking a note from Sony and MS for solutions to solve the issue with viewing distances and angles ruining the 3D effect.

Why couldn't Nintendo incorporate a camera above the screen that constantly measures the distance and angle of the person using the 3DS and adjust the image to allow it to remain 3D? Sony and MS have both demonstrated the ability for a camera to pick up and measure specific features of peoples faces already. Instead of wasting 2 perfectly good lenses on the back of the device for taking "3D" pictures it would have been nice if they used that to help maintain the 3D effect instead.

Am I wrong in thinking some basic math and a smidge of processing power could have allowed the 3DS to keep the 3D effect going even at awkward distances and angles?
 
The 3DS is really a product Nintendo should be taking a note from Sony and MS for solutions to solve the issue with viewing distances and angles ruining the 3D effect.

Why couldn't Nintendo incorporate a camera above the screen that constantly measures the distance and angle of the person using the 3DS and adjust the image to allow it to remain 3D? Sony and MS have both demonstrated the ability for a camera to pick up and measure specific features of peoples faces already. Instead of wasting 2 perfectly good lenses on the back of the device for taking "3D" pictures it would have been nice if they used that to help maintain the 3D effect instead.

Am I wrong in thinking some basic math and a smidge of processing power could have allowed the 3DS to keep the 3D effect going even at awkward distances and angles?
There's an array of 400 (or 800?) half-cylinder lenses involved, carefully placed between the pixels and a barrier grid. To compensate for horizontal head movement, you'd have to rotate and swivel all of these lenses. It sure looks like a signifcant mechanical engineering challenge to me.
 
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Updated the first post with my live summary of the event, for convenient reference. Let me know if I missed something important, I think I may have missed a few minutes of the Nintendo conference assisting my wife.
 
There's an array of 400 (or 800?) half-cylinder lenses involved, carefully placed between the pixels and a barrier grid. To compensate for horizontal head movement, you'd have to rotate and swivel all of these lenses. It sure looks like a signifcant mechanical engineering challenge to me.
If they are using Sharp's technique it's a barrier ... as long as the resolution of the barrier is sufficient it's possible to adjust for head location (no mechanics needed, just a different selection of which barrier stripes to make transparent). The question is, what is the resolution of the barrier?

The only Lenticular lens display you can turn into a 2D display is Ocuity (now owned by AU Optronics).

PS. barrier displays can in theory track a single person, but because the viewing zones repeat it can't do it for multiple viewers at a time.
 
If they are using Sharp's technique it's a barrier ... as long as the resolution of the barrier is sufficient it's possible to adjust for head location (no mechanics needed, just a different selection of which barrier stripes to make transparent). The question is, what is the resolution of the barrier?

The only Lenticular lens display you can turn into a 2D display is Ocuity (now owned by AU Optronics).

PS. barrier displays can in theory track a single person, but because the viewing zones repeat it can't do it for multiple viewers at a time.
I thought they were turning it off by just making both perspectives equal, not by removing the eye separation on the display level.

Even if it's just a barrier, the optimal width of the barriers is also dependent on viewing angle, so the effect will degrade just the same unless mechanical compensation can be performed.

But I could swear the internet told me it's the tech with the cylindrical lenses, even though I don't recall where I saw those slides. Last week is one huge blur really. Did we get a manufacturer announcement yet that tells us whose tech it is?
 
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