Sony Patent Targets Split-Screen Cheaters
By Jared Newman
Depending on your world view, looking at someone else’s screen in split-screen multiplayer gaming is either a time-honored tradition or the lowest form of treachery. Sony’s filed a patent that should appear to the later group, intended to stamp out screen-lookers with 3D technology.
Stereoscopic 3D works by displaying two rapidly alternating images on a single display, each showing a different perspective of the same scene. When you wear 3D glasses, the alternating images are sent to your left and right eyes, with shutters on the glasses acting as filters. The 3D effect is achieved when you’re only allowed to see one of the images at a time.
Sony’s patent for same-screen multiplayer entails splitting the alternate images between two different pairs of glasses, instead of different eyes on the same pair of glasses. By sending different images to each pair of glasses, both players get their own version of the action in full-screen glory.
I agree with the folks at Broke My Controller that this is a more exciting development than 3D itself. Gaming in the third-dimension is gimmicky, but preventing a buddy from snooping your location in a first-person shooter? That’s just practical. [Broke My Controller via Playstation Lifestyle]
