We could have played Luigi’s Mansion in 3D

Nintendo has been fiddling around with 3D technology for a long time. Most of us of a proper age remember the travesty that was the Virtual Boy. As bad as it was, Nintendo needed to test the limits of 3D technology and get a better idea of what the public wanted. Nintendo even had the idea of making a 3D version of Luigi’s Mansion on the GameCube.

Speaking in a Wired interview, 3DS producer Hideki Konno gave some insight into Nintendo’s history of 3D. The 3DS uses technology similar to a lenticular lens. This technology has been around for about 70 years, but is just now evolved enough to be used in a console. The lens helps to create the illusion of depth from different angles. This also is the reason why the 3DS doesn’t require glasses.

“We have been doing these experiments for a very long time, starting from the NES era,” said Konno. “We also tried with the Virtual Boy. And even for GameCube, with the development of Luigi’s Mansion, we were thinking of developing a 3-D version of it. However, at that time it was very difficult to realize it as an actual product on the market, because of the resolution of the screen and the separate costs of the console and screen.”

Since the cost of 3D hardware has significantly decreased since then, Nintendo feels now is the time to move forward with its product. Nintendo could even make the 3DS screen as large as a television, but costs and technology limitations hinder the process. The 3DS has the advantage of always being directly in front of the player. People tend to move around a lot while watching television so the 3D effect can be lost too easily.

Via [Wired] Read [Go Nintendo]