“Nintendo just launched the 3DS, a handheld game device with a 3-D screen. But you don’t need to spend $249 for 3-D gaming on the go: $35 will do. That’s the price of an attachment Hasbro is selling that adds depth to the screen of an iPhone or iPod touch,” Barbara Ortutay reports for The Associated Press.
“Unfortunately, the Hasbro My3D isn’t a slim pair of glasses. It looks more like a weird set of toy binoculars. You snap the Apple device into a holder on one end and look through the other,” Ortutay reports. “It’s a fun diversion aimed mostly at kids. It can wow grown-ups too, but I’m not sure anyone will use this much in the long run. It’s hardly $35 worth of plastic, but it might be $35 worth of entertainment.”
“The roots of the My3D go way back: it’s basically a slight update of the stereoscope, which was first demonstrated in 1851. This two-lens device delighted Victorians with still 3-D photos of landscapes,” Ortutay reports. “The View-Master is another later-day successor to the stereoscope.”
Ortutay reports, “The View-Master, of course, never worked with applications and movies, but the My3D does. It’s used with specially written apps like as ‘Sharks,’ which immerses users in a shark-filled underwater scene, and ‘Sector 17,’ an outer-space shooter. These are all free to download for now from the iTunes Store, though Hasbro does plan to start charging for some of them later this spring. Until June, the viewers are only available from Target stores.”
Read more in the full article here.
More info about Hasbro My3D games and entertainment apps via Apple’s iTunes App Store:
• my3D 360° SHARKS – Hasbro, Inc.
• my3D TUNNEL PILOT
• my3D BUBBLE BOLT
• my3D SECTOR 17
• my3D SHATTERSTORM
• my3D TELEPORT L.A
• my3D PRESENTS…HD
• my3D PRESENTS…
Cool!
Walking in a 3D world while living in the real world can be dangerous. It would be great if they put safeties in the software so the user doesn’t get hurt. Could put a max circle in the preferences so people and very young kids don’t get hurt.
How do you use the touchscreen game controls with this thing attached?
No way to use touch controls; only spinning and moving head around makes the experience.
Sorry! There are two holes bottom left and right for your thumbs. Some games DO use touch control.
It should be mentioned that this type of 3d stage creation should not have the the side effects that the stroboscopic shutter projection systems have (both the dangerous elliptic effects and the less dangerous but still annoying nausea, headaches and blurred vision)
The author seems to looks down his nose at “view master” type stereoscopes, however it is virtually the only safe full home system available (and that includes virtually all the 3D consumer TV’s and gaming systems). As a matter of fact the only other “safe” (non stroboscopic) 3D systems in use are the anaglyph’s (old school blue/red 3D) and the cross polarized systems used in commercial cinema.
I believe we have only seen the tip of the iceberg on the problems and long term effects (damage) that the stroboscopic 3D systems are doing. I predict that the “shutter glasses” type of 3D systems will be found to do substantial harml (in the long term) and will be gone in a matter of a few years.
Have people forgotten the Nintendo Virtual Boy? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl-WrBazTTc&feature=player_embedded