Nintendo gave Sony Corp. a poke in the eye Tuesday morning by announcing an agreement with Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co. and DreamWorks to deliver stereoscopic 3-D movies to Nintendo's upcoming 3DS hand-held console.
The Japanese game company did not list movie titles, but a demo of the console showed a trailer of Disney's "Tangled," which was an adaptation of Rapunzel. "Tangled" is set for theatrical release Nov. 24.
Nintendo said it expected to ship the 3DS sometime during its current fiscal year, ending March 31, 2011, but Nintendo President Satoru Iwata declined to say whether the console would be on store shelves in time for the Christmas holidays.
Nintendo's announcement comes just hours before Sony is expected to unveil, at its own E3 press conference, 20 game titles in 3-D for its PlayStation 3 console. Sony has made 3-D movies, televisions and games a corporate-wide priority and is expected to evangelize on the technology this week.
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo's U.S. business, sought to distinguish the 3DS from the competition by emphasizing that the console didn't require players to wear polarized or cumbersome active shutter glasses. Akin to lenticular 3-D images, the screen projects an illusion of 3 dimensions. The result is a picture comparable to 3-D with glasses. To perceive the effect, however, viewers must be positioned directly in front of the DS screen.
"Man! Those glasses!" Fils-Aime exclaimed in mock horror during Nintendo's press conference at the Nokia Theatre. "Don't be surprised to pay a hefty amount for those glasses. And for everyone in the room!"
The 3DS is similar to the current DS, except the top 3.5-inch screen will display 3-D images, while the bottom display is a touch screen. Equipped with three cameras (two on the outside casing), the DS lets players take 3-D pictures and share them with other 3DS owners.
