3D Video Chat Is a Possibility on the 3DS

by VGChartz Staff, posted on 25 June 2010 / 9,385 Views

In a recent interview with Forbes, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata mentioned that the 3DS still has a few more secrets.  Yeah it has an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a touchscreen, a glasses-free 3D widescreen, a depth slider, a 3D camera, a "slidepad," and numerous online functions that are still shrouded in mystery, but that's just the tip of the iceberg so far.  Iwata snuck in this hint about one potential new feature:

"Technologically speaking, a variety of different things are possible with the 3DS, for example, 3-D video chat."

Somehow, this didn't become the focus of the whole interview, so we don't have any more details, clues, riddles, or follow-up questions.  The 3DS prototypes shown at E3 had a pair of cameras that could work together to take 3D photos, but those were on the other side of the screen.  The side facing the player only had one camera.  It will be interesting to see if the 3DS ends up having four cameras instead of three for applications like this.  Cameras are pretty cheap these days, and 3D video chat sounds like a pretty tasty feature.


12 Comments

L.C.E.C.
L.C.E.C. (on 29 June 2010)

The Idea of 3D Chatroulette scares me x_x

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mmnin
mmnin (on 26 June 2010)

It has a single camera on the screen side too. I believe the 3DS can also roughly transform 2D games into 3D through software translation. So it probably combines these two elements to allow 3D chat.

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weezy
weezy (on 26 June 2010)

The problem. If you 3D video chat you wouldnt be able to see the screen because the DS screens would be FACING AWAY FROM YOU . lol

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Imphamis
Imphamis (on 26 June 2010)

This device still have secrets?

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PeteyPeeps
PeteyPeeps (on 25 June 2010)

Ok ... so 3DS will cost like $300 - $400US now? gosh

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thismeintiel
thismeintiel (on 25 June 2010)

I would imagine implementing this feature into the 3DS would raise the price incredibly. Do the cameras on the front even shoot vid? All I remember them saying is it would take 3-D pics.

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thekitchensink
thekitchensink (on 25 June 2010)

SInce Iwata is a major techie, he would be aware of the fact that only having one camera facing the user would mean no 3D chatting. So either they have something different in mind or they're considering adding yet another camera.

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superchunk
superchunk (on 25 June 2010)

Video chat is possible, not 3D video chat as it does not have two cameras facing the user.

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hunter_alien
hunter_alien (on 25 June 2010)

You could still use it to play online augmented reality games while chatting with buddies... you send him your 3D setting, he sends you yours, all in real time, while playing a space invaders style game ;-) it could be cool :-D

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Arcturus
Arcturus (on 25 June 2010)

nevermind, "The 3DS prototypes shown at E3 had a pair of cameras that could work together to take 3D photos, but those were on the other side of the screen."

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Arcturus
Arcturus (on 25 June 2010)

Is the position of the 3D camera facing the user?

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