At the 3D Gaming Summit in Hollywood this week, some of the biggest supporters of 3D gaming met to discuss the future of the format. And with all the advancements in the tech, there's still much to learn.

Pal-Kristian Engstad, lead graphics programmer on Naughty Dog'sUncharted 3: Drake's Deception, elaborated on how his studio has incorporated the technology into its upcoming, high-profile PlayStation 3 game.

"The way I see 3D, it's a different kind of experience, it's a closer experience. You can use it to get closer to the player. We use it so that you understand that if you step off a ledge, you might hurt yourself. It's not a sacrifice, it's an additional component to the game in our view."

He also was careful to point out one of the most prominent technological hurdles of stereoscopic 3D game development: "But when you're trying to max out the potential of a console, [keep in mind] you have to render things twice. If you have an engine that can't render as fast, you're going [to suffer] from running twice as much data at once."

Jeremy Nikolai, senior programmer at Ready At Dawn, developer of God of War: Origins Collection for PS3, confirmed a similar development experience to Engstad's. "For God of War: Origins Collection, we had to make some adjustments. The 2D game runs at 60 frames per second in 1080p. But because of the rendering associated with 3D, it runs in 720p at a lower framerate. If we were starting from scratch [instead of adapting the PSP games to home console], it would've been different."

Cheap Thrills Or Smart Implementation?

Panel moderator Shane Satterfield with GameTrailers.com cited lower-brow Hollywood films' use of 3D effects for "cheap thrills." He asked the panel what they felt the difference was between "smart" and "cheap" use of 3D effects in games.

"We were working off a remake, but we think we used it intelligently," said Nikolai. "You have to use it right. We have to be careful about 'window-in violations' and not breaking the fourth wall too much. Everything has to come through the center instead of breaking that dimension from the sidelines," Nikolai said. He also mentioned that the team established a "virtual bubble" to ensure that any flying 3D effects came from within specific areas to enhance gameplay, rather than provide cheap thrills.

Naughty Dog's Engstad elaborated. "We initially just implemented 3D, then all of the designers got really impressed and started thinking of what they could do to make it better. It's paying off now."

"It's important to use the medium appropriately," added Simon Benson, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's senior development manager for its 3D team. "It's not just video, there's more you can do with it. [At Sony] we start by making sure teams understand the technical boundaries of 3D. It has its own set of rules. It's a high quality video mode, and once you hone the technical boundaries, you then implement creative."

"It's a two-phase process. 3D on PS3 is only 12 months old," he said. "It's still new. We still have 60 games. At this point, people are learning to implement the creative elements now that all of the technical work has been established."

3D's Low Adoption Rates

Moderator Satterfield cited an NPD sales figure that reported that in 2010, only 4 percent of televisions sold in the U.S. were 3D-capable. With a softer market, he shifted the attention away from creative implementation to the challenges facing the 3D market.

What it boils down to is creating content that convinces consumers that investment in 3D is worth it. "For our technology to work in games, [we] must work directly with teams from the outset to design titles that utilize it," noted Guy Matteotti with 3D middleware company TriOviz.

Fanatec has revealed a big batch of products in the last week weeks, showing off no less than three different new wheels, a wheel rim, new pedal sets a a new shifter with even more to come.

The new wheels differ a lot from each other. While two are cross compatible to all major platform but have to sacrifice other features for that, the PC-centric Clubsport Wheel comes with what’s probably the larger set of features ever packed into a single wheel including replaceable wheel rims.

Here is part of a recent an interview with Thomas of a Fanatec.

Here’s some additional specs and features of the CSR.

• Authentic motorsport inspired design with premium aluminum wheel and Alcantara grip.
• Force Feedback is handled by a Powerful Mabuchi RS550 Motor that’s used in RC cars.
• Additional 2 force feedback actuators are used to simulate motor or ABS vibrations .
• 90° to 900° of rotation or turning freedom.
• Silent belt drive and high resolution sensors deliver ultra realistic steering feel with pin point accuracy.
• Also compatible with the Playstation 3 and PC.
• Tuning functions with LED display that allows players to adjust the turning angle (90° to 900° of steering rotation), force feedback, vibration, sensitivity, with the ability to save up to five presets.
• Five “Drift mode” adjustments to allow quicker turning ratio.
• Compatible with all Fanatec pedals, shifter sets, wheel stands, and cockpits

The CSR Elite as mentioned, is a completely new design. Here are some of the new features and specs.
• Wheel base fully made of metal with a carbon fiber and Alcantara wheel rim
• DirectSensor™ technology: The sensor is mounted directly on the steering axis to avoid interference and performance issues that are inherent in belt and gear drives that have motor mounted sensor systems.
• Strong and fast 120W dual force feedback motors plus 2 vibration motors in the wheel rim
• Large silent fans are installed to provide ample cooling
• Big shifter paddles made of metal provide a solid shifting experience

rFactor physics guru Niels Heusinkveld has released two interesting new preview videos, showing off kart physics in rFactor in action.

The videos show a 160kg heavy kart powered by a 125cc engine, according to Niels ISI’s flexible gMotor 2 engine is able to handle kart physics just fine when fed with the right values.

We really like the idea of a like mined "community" owning a share of the venture.   We are right behind Slightly Mad in there proposal.  The future of technology is about how a community feels about its acceptance.  It really putting the heart on the sleave and constantly saying "are we worthy" versus this is what "we think you should have".

We will talk about this more in upcoming blogs but here is an article from Game Industry News.  We will sign up in some shape or form.

"Need for Speed: Shift developer Slightly Mad Studios is embarking on an ambitious project to create technology and video games via crowdsourcing.

The community assisted and crowdfunded technology will be released to subscribers who can then work alongside the studio itself, develop games from scratch and be financially rewarded once the titles are live.

The first project is racing game C.A.R.S. but Slightly Mad hopes the project - dubbed World of Mass Development - will be used for future first-person shooter, adventure and role-playing games.

The community will also be able to play the game as it's being built, from the first track and cars up until the final build. 

Fast forward to 2021. Have a think about how games will look in the future. How will technological and societal changes affect the entertainment experiences of the future?

Recently, Sony Computer Entertainment hosted an exclusive all-star panel of game makers that focused on what the next ten years of video game development might look like. Panelists like Kellee Santiago (Co-Founder of ThatGameCompany), Gareth Edmondson (Managing Director of Ubisoft Reflections Studio), veteran game creator Mark Cerny, Shuhei Yoshida (President of Sony Worldwide Studios) and Mick Hocking (Director of Sony WorldWide Studios 3D Team) looked into a crystal ball to forecast what 2021 might look like in the interactive gaming space.

The Next Evolution of Motion Controls

According to Yoshida, the motion controls of today like PlayStation Move are the equivalent of the early 8-bit days of game consoles. "In the future, we will know more about the player," said Yoshida. "Game developers will have access to real-time information and data about the player, which will allow them to create some really dangerous-almost interactivities."

Star Trek Holodecks in Your Living Room

According to Hocking, holographics are going to be doable in the next 10 years. "You can bring an object out of the screen and look around it right now in our R&D studio in Liverpool using 3D and head tracking," said Hocking. "We're just at the start of this technology and we're looking forward to game designers taking this and creating new experiences.

Performance Capture Technology Will Surpass Hollywood

According to Cerny, games like Heavy Rain and Uncharted 3 are just the beginning of what can be done with performance capture - and not just in gaming. "Epic Games' Samaritan demo at GDC gave a preview of what the next generation of virtual characters will look like," said Cerny. "Performance capture will continue to evolve and allow game developers to connect with players on an emotional level."

Always-Connected Gaming Experiences

Santiago believes the current generation of connected gamers who've grown up online will move on to develop brand new types of gaming experiences. "The kinds of games this connected generation of gamers is going to make we can't possibly understand now," said Santiago. These connected experiences will continue to evolve game genres and experiences beyond even the cross-platform options that are exploding today.

Conquering The Uncanny Valley

Video game graphics will continue to evolve, combined with new technologies that will fully realize game experiences like LA Noire in a way that brings living, breathing virtual characters to life that look human. "We're not there yet, but we will cross the uncanny valley," said Edmondson. "Games touch people in all different ways, but with more realistic characters who also behave like we do, game experiences will evolve." Today, the technology is just starting to open the door for this technology, but a decade from now, the perfect storm of interaction will arrive.

KonsolenFrontTV has released a very interesting gameplay video of Codemasters’ upcoming F1 2011 title.

The video shows a full three-lap race at Melbourne in the Red Bull, using a steering wheel and no driving aids. The video has been made using the Xbox 360 version and a Fanatec GT2 wheel with Clubsport pedals, we can check out the driver’s actions via picture in picture. Furthermore, the video also gives us a short glimpse at the game’s menus.

The ZL2 boasts a range of technologies designed to provide a decent 2D and 3D viewing experience, including face tracking, Resolution+, Auto Calibration, 2D to 3D conversion, and Smart TV features including Toshiba Places.

The ZL2 is the world’s first TV targeted at consumers to include a Quad Full HD display, offering a mega 3840 x 2160 resolution compared to the standard Full HD which is 1920 x 1080.

The glasses-free 3D technology is based on the stereoscopic principle of simultaneously delivering a picture to the left eye, and another one with a small offset (parallax) to the right eye, in order to achieve the 3D effect. To deliver a glasses-free 3D image a range of lenticular lenslets guide the dedicated images to each viewer in the room.

Toshiba says the ZL2 is able to provide 3D images for up to nine different viewing positions. The TV tailors the 3D to the viewers’ actual positions in the room using face tracking technology. At the touch of a button, it is able to detect where each person is sitting, and adjust the viewing zones accordingly which it does by moving the lenslets.

After months of careful beta testing and tweaking, Kunos Simulazioni has released the final 1.3 version of their netKar Pro simulation.

The final version of version 1.3 comes with improved multiplayer code, a better collision model and a brand new Vintage Replica GT car with semi-slick tires.

First photos of the new wheel rim surfaced from the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Monza as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa showed off the new wheel rim. The wheel is closely modeled to the real F1 rim, coming with plenty of buttons, rotary switches but lacking the display and rev-meter of the original.

Replaceable wheel rims seem to be the new thing among upmarket steering wheels. With the new rim, Thrustmaster is answering Fanatec’s challenge as their upcoming ClubSport Wheel will support replaceable rims and will offer a F1-style option as well. The Fanatec wheel isn’t licensed, comes with working displays though.

The new wheel rim for Thrustmaster’s critically acclaimed T500 RS wheel is already listed on Amazon, selling for 149.99€ at a yet undisclosed date. The wheel will also be sold bundled with the T500 RS base, it remains to be seen whether Thrustmaster will also offer the current GT rim as expansion for those buying the wheel with the F1 rim on.