LOS ANGELES — After taking over the big screen, 3-D is poised to hit the small screen via video games.
Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. presented dueling versions of 3-D gaming last week at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, where attendance was expected to reach 45,000.
Both companies are investing heavily in 3-D video game technology to drive the next wave of consumer spending in an industry that generates roughly $45 billion in sales worldwide.
Sony showed off a number of game titles it hopes will prompt players to slip on glasses and enter the third dimension, including Gran Turismo 5, a much-anticipated racing game debuting Nov. 2, and Killzone 3, an adrenaline soaked shooting game due out in February.
The company recently sent out a software update to 35 million PlayStation 3 game consoles to enable the device to process stereoscopic 3-D graphics, and a handful of downloadable titles are already available in 3-D, including Super Stardust and Wipe Out HD.
As a company, Sony has made 3-D a priority. Its consumer-electronics division is rolling out 3-D Bravia television sets, professional broadcast 3-D cameras capable of capturing 3-D video and 3-D movie projectors. Sony Pictures, its movie studio, debuted a 3-D film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and will be releasing Resident Evil: Afterlife in 3-D later this year.
“It’s a future that Sony willlead,” Sony executive Kazuo Hirai predicted.
But not if Nintendo has its way.
Nintendo announced agreements with Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co. and DreamWorks to provide “stereoscopic” 3-D movies to its forthcoming 3DS handheld game console.
Nintendo did not list movie titles, but a demonstration of the console showed a trailer of Tangled, Disney’s adaptation of the classic Rapunzel fairy tale. The movie is set for release Nov. 24.
The 3DS, unlike Sony’s 3-D games, requires no glasses, an advantage Nintendo hammered home at a news conference.
“Man! Those glasses!” Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime exclaimed in mock horror.
In an effect similar to lenticular images, the Nintendo 3DS projects an illusion of three dimensions on its 3.5-inch screen. The result is a picture comparable to 3-D with glasses. To perceive the effect, however, viewers must be directly in front of the screen.
Nintendo said it expected to ship the 3DS sometime during its current fiscal year ending March 31, but Nintendo President Satoru Iwata declined to say whether the console would be on store shelves in time for the Christmas season.
Business, Pages 19 on 06/21/2010