Holographic Games: Coming Soon?
It’s relatively old news now that many companies are racing against their competition to develop 3D television. For those who aren’t up-to-date with the subject, here’s a link to a video. I suppose it doesn’t help you too much, since you need the glasses suitable for the television to see the effect.
It’s often claimed that the method of display is ‘Holographic’, but anybody who loves a bit of sci-fi knows better. So where are we now with Holographic Technology?
Old news? True. Though this display of Sony's capabilities really set the race into motion.
You can find a link to a video of Sony’s Nessy Display here. It’s worth watching if you haven’t already seen it. I suppose it is technically a method of holographic display, but if I was going for a swim in a loch, I probably wouldn’t do so to play any games.
Then there’s the method used for many corporate holograms, such as this one at Universal Studios. Sure, it looks futuristic enough and we stay dry, but it has no colour depth and just doesn’t feel right.
What about an example such as the Intel 3D Holographic Display? It looks nice, it feels gamer friendly in a way, and I’m sure it can be handled with a controller well enough, but it still just isn’t a hologram! I could put up with some distorted display for the sake of holographic shenanigans, but this is more of a projection display than anything!
You may be asking “Oh Fuzz, why would you write an entire article about holograms without any news about them or how they would affect gaming?” Well, I wouldn’t.
On October 23rd (Australian time), Sony unveiled their prototype 3D Holographic Display, shown in this clip.
The resolution for the prototype is limited at the moment, but Sony seems pretty damn close to making a holographic station which can be mass-produced.
When this technology is adapted, it will most likely be used for simpler games, such as your basic colour-block puzzles or virtual board games (chess, anyone?). Even so, the novelty alone would be worth owning one.
What are your thoughts? If it was reasonably priced, would you own one? What games do you think they could adapt to the current prototype?
