LG Adding 3D To 2D Games

LG will unveil the 3D Game Converter next week, adding a third dimension to existing 2D games. This isn’t an X-Ray Specs-style scam promising to add information which isn’t there, but a cunning application of existing gaming software.

Many modern games use the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) to work out 3D pictures. Normally these are the flattened to 2D for display on the screen – the Game Converter simply reads out these 3D shapes from the game.

This means that games don’t have to be programmed to work with the update. Instead, the update works out how to display the game. It will launch with default settings for 50 pre-existing titles, and even without settings players can still customise the 3D for new titles.

The Game Converter will be included in October’s free update for the LG Optimus 3D. It’s an interesting gimmick, and the way it’s designed to benefit third-party programs is a generous move. The problem is that these games haven’t been designed to work with 3D – even if the software works out how to display the improved graphics, the gameplay can’t benefit.

It also assumes that people are playing games which can be rendered in 3D, while most mobile games are aggressively two-dimensional. There’s also the question of how much 3D really matters on a 4-inch screen. Which is probably why LG have made it free: anyone with an Optimus 3D will play this, just to see what it’s like, and for a company pushing new technology that’s exactly what they want.

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