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DAILY MANIFESTO

How does the 3DS work exactly?

Posted on Friday, August 13 @ 13:45:29 Eastern by Daniel Bischoff

I gotta admit, I'm confused too. I didn't attend E3 this year, so with no hands-on experience to speak of, no real understanding of the technology, and no clue what to expect, I turned to the Internet for help. You might be calling me a fool right now. The Internet does not help, the Internet does not care. Well, that's where you're wrong.

Kombo.com has a video feature up right now (embedded below) with an accompanying article that does a great job explaining the effect the 3DS has on the eyes. What I still question is how the battery life will hold and where the graphics capabilities of the 3DS are directed in this whole process. Obviously, turning the 3D off will allow for a longer battery life, but will it also allow for enhanced graphics if developers design without 3D?

Apparently, the 3DS uses stereoscopic images, directed at the user's eyes for convenience, to achieve its 3D effect. Everyone's seen stereoscopic images online where the 3D end-result comes from crossing your eyes and giving yourself a big headache. I've never been able to accomplish that feat. Besides, my eyes are messed up enough as it is.

To further complicate the explanation is the involvement of Sharp's technology. This includes a screen overlay that directs specific pixels into their respective ocular receptacles. What the hell? Now I'm lost, so why don't I step aside and let the video do the talking for me?

Regardless of how it works, I'm very excited. Seems to me that 3D works great on either a massive scale, like in a movie theater, or on a personal scale, like with the 3DS. I'm in no way interested in a 3D TV that requires me to wear glasses in my own home, or looking like a complete jackass in public, so glasses-free 3D sounds good to me. Now if only I could find a way to get my hands on it and a copy of that Starfox 64 in 3D.

[Kombo]

Tags: 3DS, nintendo, 3D

Comments

MrrClean
Joined: Aug 2010

Posted: Aug 14th, 2010 at 6:26 am
I don't mind using the 3D shades in a movie theatre, at least then everyone looks as silly as everyone else. I can't help but wonder how Sharp's technology will translate to bigger tvs though. Mine is a 50 inch, perhaps a little overkill, but it works just fine, and it cost me a hundred bucks, so there. One of my favourite things about it, though, is that a bunch of people can all sit around and all get a killer view. If there is a "sweet spot", directly in front of the tv that one needs to sit in to make the 3D effects work, that is going to severly limit the usualbility of a television, really only one or two people will be able to watch at anytime. Don't get my wrong, engineers are some pretty smart people, I'm told, I'm sure they'll figure out a solution, and it'll be totally b*tchin when it works. Maybe couple that with Sony's new holographic 360 degree display... hows that for a slice of fried gold?

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UpAndAtThem
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: Aug 14th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
MrrClean, Sony's new 360 display is cool, but it has nothing to do with holography. It's the same concept as the 3DS, but instead of 2 different images for left and right, it has 360 images, each only visible in a 1 degree arc.

The comment in the video hoping for this in TVs is dumb. There's not enough market a TV that only one person can watch at once (and get the 3D effect). For a handheld it makes perfect sense. The suggestion of using it for a computer monitor could be good.

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