"Innovations" - New Technology From Sony Called SimulView Makes The Split-screen Multiplayer Gaming A Thing Of The Past
I'm not much of a gamer myself but this technological innovation really caught my attention.
It's called SimulView. A new technology from Sony that makes the split-screen multiplayer gaming a thing of the past. By using 3D technology, the display shows two completely different full HD images and with the use of the 3D glasses, each player gets its own full screen gaming experience.
Let me explain how 3D technology of our time works so you can have a better understanding of how SimulView works:
Without getting too technical, Two different images are shown on the screen. One for the left eye and one for the right eye, just as we see in real life. The 3D TV uses a technology called "Active Shutter" which alternates the two different images at a incredible speed. This images are projected into each lens of the 3D glasses that you're wearing. In order for the 3D glasses to work, they have to be synchronized with the 3D TV so that each image gets to the correct lens. This is why 3D glasses have batteries and an On or Off switch, otherwise they wouldn't work. That's why their so expensive. When the 3D TV shows the left image, the 3D glasses turns off the right lens to prevent making it visible to the right eye. That way your mind focuses on the left image. After this, the same process is done with the right image but this time the left lens is turned off so that your mind focuses on the right image. This is done at a speed that is almost impossible for the human eye to see. Your mind then combines the two images together to make the sense of depth. This video better explains how "Active Shutter" technology works on 3D TV's:
Now that we have a better understanding of how 3D TV's Work, we can see how SumulView will work with multiplayer gaming. Because the 3D TV generates two completely different images, one for the left eye and one for the right eye at almost the same time, this technology can be used to give each player it's own separate image. In this case, Simulview uses the left image to show what player one is doing and the right image to show what player two is doing. When each player puts on their 3D glasses, the 3D TV sends only the left image for player one and the right image for player two, giving each a full screen experience from the same display.
As for now, there are only four titles that support the SimulView technology, including "MotorStorm Apocalypse", "Grand Turismo 5", "Killzone 3" and "Super Stardust HD". But as this gets more popular over time, it might become a new standard for multiplayer gaming. That is if 3D also becomes a new standard for TV. So it might get a difficult for SimulView to find a spot in the gaming market.
You can check out this ad of the Sony's Playstation 3D Display which features SimulView technology:
The Playstation 3D Display comes in one size of 24'' with "MotorStorm Apocalypse", an HDMI cable and one pair of rechargeable 3D glasses for the price of $499. Which is a reasonable price to pay compared to other 3D HDTV's of the same size.
Chris Maymi's Opinions
I think that SimulView technology is a great advance in the video gaming world. For years game developers have been using split-screen for multiplayer gaming and this prevented gamers from having a better experience. That's one of the reasons why online gaming is so popular. Not only you can play with anyone in the world, but you can get the full screen experience too. But I think SimulView has more disadvantages than advantages.
Disadvantages:
1. First one is the worst. This technology only works with the Playstation 3D Display. Which can be bad since not everyone will be willing to pay $499 for a display this big if they have the change to get a bigger display with better quality for the same price.
2. People just don't want the 3D glasses. Unfortunately this is the only way you can get SimulView to work and this can be a big problem. A lot of people have complained about the use of 3D glasses before for it's uncomfortableness. They prefer 2D to 3D because of this. For me, I love the 3D concept and I would love if it could become a new standard, but there is still a lot of work to do. Until a good 3D TV is done without the glasses, I think it will be difficult for 3D to become a standard. For SimulView, their just gonna have to find a new way to do it if they want this to become a standard for multiplayer gaming.
3. Because 3D only generates two images, SimulView only works for two players. This can be a real problem when it comes to four player gaming. Gamers would just have to go back to split-screen in order to play with four people.
At the end SimulView will cover very little part of the market and this means it will not have good adoption. The only advantage is that players get the full screen multiplayer experience and in the business world, it's just not enough. Theres a saying that "New Standards, however good they might be, need a major player to back them for mass adoption" - Rounak. This is something that "Sony" just doesn't have right now for the SimulView technology. They should've waited a little big longer for 3D to get in the hands of more people and then release this technology to all their "Sony Bravia" TV's instead of one display.
Article written by Chris Maymi.
Reference from the Playstation 3D Display official website and Bangstyle article "Sony SimulView: Goodbye Split-Screen Video Games". SimulView image taken from the Playstation 3D Display official website."Active Shutter" video taken from the YouTube video entitled "How Samsung 3D Glasses Work" from user "tekspree". "Sony’s Playstation 3D Display" video taken from the YouTube video entitled "Playstation 3D TV Display Trailer - MUST WATCH" from user "SonyEliteGamers".