According to Insight Media, the popularity of 3D gaming will explode in the next five years, alongside the expected growth of 3D-capable displays.
The report says 40 million 3D-capable devices will be installed by 2014, with a good number being consoles, including the PS3 which is firmware-upgradable to 3D.
“We have spent considerable time on our forecasting methodology and believe we have created something that is truly new, innovative and ground breaking,” added Chris Chinnock, president of Insight Media, via GI.biz.
“We have played Stereoscopic 3D games for hundreds of hours and can report that the latest technology does not result in eye strain or fatigue,” notes Dale H Maunu, lead analyst on the report.“Our experience leads us to believe that S-3D gaming is more immersive and compelling that traditional gaming on a 2D screen. We spoke directly with gamers, game developers, and game publishers as well as display makers to build a complete picture of the future of gaming, along the way going from sceptical middle-age display veterans to 3D gaming fanboys.”
Result for: game publisher
Microsoft has dismissed rumors that the company is planning to bid for game publisher Electronic Arts. “We have no plans to acquire EA,” Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, told Reuters. “They remain a very important partner to us. No acquisitions.”
Shares in Electronic Arts jumped 8 percent on speculation that the software giant was interest in acquiring the company.
Spencer declined to comment to Reuters on whether Microsoft and Electronic Arts have had held talks at some point about such a move. EA tried and failed last year to buy up rival Take Two Interactive. The Madden maker is often named as a target for Time Warner and Walt Disney Co. by traders.
The Redwood-city publisher has a market value of roughly $6.5 billion.
Result for: game publisher
According to a post on the official Ubisoft forum, it appears the French game publisher is looking to not fall into the same traps that Electronic Arts has with their hit game Spore which has been slammed for using restrictive SecuROM DRM.
For the upcoming expected blockbuster Far Cry 2, Ubisoft has admitted they will be using DRM, but with much less restrictions then Spore or Bioshock.
According to the Ubisoft Manager,
* You have five activations on three separate PCs.
* Uninstalling the game “refunds” an activation. This process is called “revoke”, so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems.
* You can upgrade your computer as many times as you want (using our revoke system)
* Ubisoft is committed to the support of our games, and additional activations can be provided.
* Ubisoft is committed to the long-term support of our games: you’ll always be able to play Far Cry 2.
The clear difference is that of the “revoke” feature. For an EA game, you never get any installations back, and you certainly don’t get up to 15 installations. You will lose one if your hard drives crash, but that is not as likely as someone wanting to upgrade, or reformat their OS.
