E3 2011

I went to E3, the largest annual videogame convention in North America, which was about 2/3 the size of years past, much less loud and still lacking a consumer day open to the public (which the Tokyo Games Show, for example, does the final convention day each year). That made it both much more pleasant, dare I say, fun, while also a little sadder.

Nonetheless, there were plenty of great games and without all the long lines it was easier to get play time. There were also some enchanting technological innovations, of which my favorites are:

• Darbee Visual Presence:
  Ingenious interpolative software alternative to clunky 3D TV that gives the illusion of greater 3D without going whole hog glasses and focal points by adding depth information, kind of like adding drop shadow but very subtle, tricking you into seeing some surprising detail and changing how you look at the video image over time.
  
  It comes from brain research and works on the brain a little further back than our rods & cones, as explained to me by Paul Darbee, inventor (in the 1980's) of the universal remote (first to market, licensed by everyone). The software is starting to be licensed to TV, with Darbee just reconnecting with all of his global television manufacturing contacts from the universal remote business, and it will be an ingredient brand. Darbeevision on the inside.
  
  Even better, soon you can get it as an HTMI connecting device from Snakebyte, a European company debuting the little Darbee-converting box at E3, that you hook up between your computer satellite box and HDTV monitor. As for the images, the bigger the better, because I saw both Assassin's Creed looking so much more alive in a side-by-side comparison, as well as an underwater animal video that had such incredible depth -- not any of the painful or dim 3D technologies you've been subjected to in the past, non-assaultive depth, if that makes any sense, there for you to play with rather than work with.

• Fling: Analog joystick for your thumbs for iPad (and mini version for iPhone) that are a blast to use. Each one has two suction cups, and suction onto the screen, lower left and right corners. Then you basically twirl the discs inside each one with your thumbs to play, for example, a killer Asteroids-type game with constant side-scroller shooting action. There's a tension the the inner discs that makes the tactile experience very pleasing and natural. And when your thumbs come up, the games usually pause. Creators, Ten One Design, are in New Jersey!
  

Oh, and I got to be in this:



What an industry.