New Sony 3-D TV: Play Split Screen without Splitting the Screen
LOS ANGELES — Sony announced another 3-D TV. No biggie. The TV is marketed specifically to gamers. Still not groundbreaking. It can do co-op gaming without needing to split the screen. Wait, now that is interesting.
Even though ubiquitous Internet access has made multiplayer gaming commonplace, sitting next to a friend, yelling in collective frustration or victory, is still one of the most satisfying ways to play. But splitting the screen so each player can control a character significantly shrinks the view. Sony's new 3-D TV is able to send a separate image to each player's eyes so they both seem to have a full-screen view.
The whole premise of 3-D technology is to send separate images to each eye, so it's not much of a stretch to send separate images to four eyes; it's simply an extension of the technology Sony already uses.
As with all Sony 3-D TVs, players will need to wear Sony 3-D glasses to view games in 3-D and dual full-screen mode. It is 24 inches and will be PlayStation-branded to emphasize its gaming focus.
To promote the TV, Sony has put together a special bundle deal that includes the 24-inch TV, a pair of 3-D glasses, a 6-foot HDMI cable and a copy of "Resistance 3" for $499. Sony has also reduced the price of the 3-D glasses to $69.99 to promote buying a second pair for co-op gaming.
We got a chance to play the co-op 3-D TV at the E3 gaming expo. The 3-D effect is pretty standard for PlayStation 3 games, but co-op features work exactly as advertised. Even though the TV is effectively displaying four separate images across the entire screen, there wasn't any crosstalk between the player views and it seemed that each player was simply playing normal full-screen 3-D.
