Darkworks Joining The Official Playstation3, hit at E3 Expo

Hansen

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/4/2010 – No-Glasses 3D is coming to a screen near you as a consortium of indie companies – not the studio or hardware giants – are closing in on the holy grail of 3D, the effect in movies and games without the dorky eyewear.

“The next time if they ask me if I want paper or plastic (glasses), I will say neither. I’ve got no-nerd, no-glasses, eye-popping technology by my side,” said Erick Hansen, CEO and BlueStar Digital Technologies. “It is a David and Goliath situation, but we indies can move fast.”

Hansen has joined in as one of the leading roles in the indie march toward cracking the 3D fortune cookie without the majors. That means independent films and games studios will have access to this multi-billion dollar market.

The companies by his side include Darkworks and TriOviz, who bowed the new at the recent E3 conference in Los Angeles.

The TriOviz system www.trioviz.com for games was a huge hit at E3. The system allows TriOviz for Games SDK to enable AAA console games on these new sets for an even better immersive experience. The same post-process that facilitates 3D games on regular 2D displays works with 3D TVs using either active shutter or polarized stereoscopic technologies. The result is an easy-to-implement 3D solution for games across all TVs, removing confusion over conflicting 3D technologies for developers and consumers.

The Darkworks/TriOviz system removes some of the chicken-egg problem where consumers don’t want to upgrade hardware unless sufficient movies and games are there, while software folks don’t want to develop unless there are the consumers to buy their ware.

Graphics technology expert Jon Peddie, president of the Peddie Research Group said “The TriOviz technology serves as an excellent bridging solution. Developers and publishers don’t have to invest in multiple 3D solutions for multiple platforms, and consumers can play the same 3D console title on their existing HDTVs and then on their new 3D TVs.”

Paris, FR-based Darkworks said that the new 3D TV SDK delivers seamless integration, faster GPU performance and up to 1080p full HD resolution for console games. it has completed the Tools & Middleware License Agreement for PlayStation3 with SCEI.

Not ones to wait for a grail quest, Hansen and BlueStar are on the trail with the “Lost Treasure of the Knights of Templar.” “It will be both a movie and a game, shot at the same time. The viewers and gamers will be looking for the answers as we have done on the tech world that brings it to them in 3D,” said Hansen, a pioneer in video games and film since the very first home video game “Wing Commander” to the DVD and console games of today.

Furthermore, Hansen has another surprise in the mix, a game/movie called “Beat the Moguls” at beatthemoguls.com, where music contestants will be able to compete with their fellow songsters and outguess real entertainment moguls for cash prizes and a recording contract.

Hannah

“The first game implementing the Darkworks 3D SDK, Batman: ArkhamAslyum Game of the Year Edition for PlayStation3, shipped in May of this year to positive reviews; more TriOviz-enabled titles will be announced in the coming months,” Darkworks director Grady Hannah said. “We’ve got the tech, the wow, and finally we have the now!”

“Darkworks is the logical 3D partner for console games publishers, given its two years of R&D commitment to making quality 3D easy and performance-effective to adopt across titles and franchises,” commented Alexis Arragon, Product Manager at Darkworks. “Game development and production budgets are big investments and, with the current lack of comprehensive 3D standards, it is daunting for top publishers to think about teams developing support for an all 3D formats. TriOviz for Games SDK offers one solution for consoles, PC, and 100 percent of consumer television formats.”

TriOviz for Games leverages existing three dimensional graphics information within each game to greatly enhance the depth-of-field. Unlike other 3D solutions, frames in the game are only rendered once, so the companies say there is no notable performance hit on even the most demanding console games. The SDK works as a shader in the game engine – supporting popular and proprietary engines, requiring as little as a couple of days or weeks to implement.

“Over the next twelve months, we will be working on revolutionary 3D games never before seen on any gaming systems”, Hannah at Darkworks (www.darkworks.com) added. BlueStar is considered by many to be the world leader in independent Blu-ray manufacturing and is well respected across the technology sector. This independently owned American company will play a big role in developing new technologies which will allow this 3D movie and video game experience to reach its full potential.”