3D

E3 2010--deja vu all over again

LOS ANGELES--Can someone please tell me why we've spent the last two days rehashing the highlights of E3 2009?

If you were here for last year's video game mega-convention, you will recall that the big news from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo was the true dawn of the motion control wars. Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, Sony showed off its prototype system, and Nintendo pulled back the wraps on some new improvements to the Wii Motion Plus.

All told, these innovations were going to take us to the next level of video game play, where it's all about gesture-based control and traditional button-based controllers became a thing of the past.

Flash forward to this week, though, and the highlights of the press conferences, at least Sony's and Microsoft's, seem someone familiar. Let's recap. At Microsoft's event on Monday, the biggest news was the formal unveiling of Kinect. This, of course, used to be known as Project Natal.

Microsoft announced that the device would be available November 4 and was able for the first time to name some actual games that will be Kinect-enabled. There will be 15 launch titles, including Ubisoft's Michael Jackson game, as well as six that were featured during the press event, Dance Central, a dancing game from Rock Band developer Harmonix; Kinect Sports, a game that offers soccer, bowling, track, and more; Kinect Joy Ride, a racing game; Kinect Adventures, a game for navigating down rivers and railroad tracks while trying to hit targets; Your Shape, an exercise game; and Kinectimals. However, the demo was very much like the one from a year earlier. … Read more

Nintendo 3DS: Brief hands-on impressions

LOS ANGELES--At the end of its E3 media briefing, Nintendo sent an army of spokesmodels out into the audience to demo the new 3DS handheld. Audience members were allowed to line up and spend about 60 seconds running through a preset series of 3D images, but no close-up photography was authorized.

We got to check out the demo reel for the 3DS, as well as the hardware, and here are our very first initial impressions.

The device itself seems about the same size as the current DSi, perhaps a little thicker. The top 3.5-inch 3D screen is larger than … Read more

Sony shows off new Move at E3 (live blog)

Editor's note: We used Cover It Live for this event, so if you missed the live blog, you can still replay it in the embedded component below. Replaying the event will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET editors Daniel Terdiman and Josh Lowensohn. For those of you who just want the updates, we've included them in regular text here.

Welcome to CNET's live coverage of Sony's E3 2010 press conference. We're live in Los Angeles, where we expect 3D content on the PS3 to be among the highlights. (See our full list of predictions here.) In addition to the live video feed (above), Daniel Terdiman and I will be providing play-by-play coverage using Cover It Live (below).

If you've missed our previous coverage, catch the recap of earlier press conferences from Microsoft and Nintendo. To catch all of CNET's E3 coverage, just head over to our event page.… Read more

EA: Xbox 360 can do 3D

Crysis 2 "will be the first major video game on multiple platforms to take full advantage of true stereoscopic 3D," according to an EA news release. Until now, we've assumed the PlayStation 3 is the only current-generation console capable of 3D gaming since it supports a newer HDMI specification.

If EA is correct, why didn't Microsoft announce such a thing at the company's news conference this morning? Sony has certainly been riding the 3D bandwagon, so a Microsoft counter-attack wouldn't be out of the question.

The original Crysis took advantage of the horsepower-demanding proprietary … Read more

Microsoft looks to Kinect as game-changer

news analysis LOS ANGELES--If one thing was clear in the lead-up to the Xbox 360 E3 press conference, it was that hard-core gamers felt threatened by Microsoft's obvious move toward casual gaming with its forthcoming Kinect motion control system.

But while the company is indeed hoping Kinect and its ease of use and accessibility to just about anyone can help it capture a much larger audience, it also wants its longtime loyalists to know they haven't been forgotten.

That much was evident at the press conference, which took place here Monday morning. Before Kinect was ever mentioned, those in the audience were blasted with demos of purely hard-core titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Halo: Reach, and Gears of War 3. The new Call of Duty, from the developer Treyarch, rather than Infinity Ward, which made the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, will be released on November 9, while Halo: Reach is expected in September. … Read more

Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360 at a glance

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft on Monday gave its Kinect for Xbox 360 motion control system its coming out party, and there's a lot to be excited about.

The device will be released on November 4 in North America, but the company has not yet announced pricing. Rumors have the price in the $100 to $150 range, and Microsoft clearly wants to make Kinect accessible to the mass market so it can successfully take on Nintendo's Wii in the coming battle for the whole family.

The company hasn't talked much about its specifications, but it has unveiled the first six … Read more

3D TV FAQ

(Latest update: February 17, 2011)

It's been almost a year since the first of the "new" 3D TVs hit the market, enabling their owners to watch 3D Blu-ray movies and 3D television programming as well as play 3D games. The technology behind these televisions is still relatively new, however, and still inspires plenty of questions.

In this newly updated FAQ I'll attempt to answer those questions as well as possible, incorporating my first-hand knowledge in reviewing numerous 2010 3D TVs, conversations I've had with industry experts, and reactions from readers.

This article is targeted toward people looking for an introduction to modern 3D TV technology. If you're an advanced reader just looking for the latest news your best bet is going straight to CNET's 3D TV resource guide.