The March 2024 issue of IEEE Spectrum is here!

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3D Games

1 min read

Reuters has an interesting

story

on the rise of 3D games.  The most compelling development is the stereoscopic 3D glasses that will be used in the upcoming Avatar game, based on James Cameron’s next film. 



While 3-D films have been around for decades, innovations in digital projection technology are ushering in a new age of eye-popping action.  A Santa Monica, California start-up called Real D is leading the crush to cash in.   As Michael Lewis, co-founder and CEO of Real D told me, “Cinema is the tip of the sphere to get the consumer indoctrinated in new generation of 3-D.”



Real D’s business model is built around the licensing of its software and hardware.  Light is circularly polarized from the digital projectors onto a special silver screen, which helps capture the images.  Instead of donning clunky headsets or red and green lenses, viewers wear lightweight stereoscopic glasses that can be recycled or trashed after use.  Competitors, such as Dolby, have introduced 3-D systems requiring costly washable glasses.  Unlike Real, Dolby’s projection technology can be utilized using a theater’s existing white screens.  I doubt it will be long before 3D glasses occupy another shelf in the living room, right next the Rock Band drumsticks. 


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