Cross media productions of movies and computer games are getting more and more popular (e.g. Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Kung Fu Panda). Especially the possibility to re-use film material and scenes shot in 3D stereoscopic vision for games might offer new business opportunities with digital 3D games.

Such 3D games differ greatly from any other project content by offering the potential of interactivity: one or more users play and interact with stereoscopically perceived 2D and 3D environments. In this regard, stereoscopic 3D gaming puts up specific demands on the workflow, technologies and contents in game and film production. The Entertainment Computing Group of the University of Duisburg-Essen will examine this topic in a requirements analysis and implement a prototype application with a 3D gaming scenario.

The main focus is on the following two aspects:

1. The (semi) automatic generation of 3D content from film productions for virtual gaming environments An interesting question is how linear film contents can be integrated – preferably automatically – into interactive systems based on real-time 3D game engines. Ideally, a software system would allow for direct utilization of such material in an appropriate game genre. We plan to experiment with a prototype which allows whole film scenes, including their locations and characters, to be experienced in a game. In the setting of an unsolved criminal case, for instance, one could visit the crime scene again to find the real offender. Information on the depth of field of the original film set could also add up to the integration of such contents in computer games in an aesthetical sense. The technical challenges should be identified, analyzed and evaluated throughout the prototype development.

2. 3D interaction within a 3D stereo gaming environment The market for computer games has been growing rapidly over the last years. One reason in particular for this development was the enormous success of the Nintendo Wii with its cutting-edge motion control. The new systems by market leaders Sony and Microsoft, as announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, even extend this approach with their natural spatial interaction technologies. In addition, the development of 3D display technologies for the game consumer market (e.g. NVIDIA 3D Vision, Blitz Games’ Invincible Tiger) has been revived. Unlike previous technologies developed in the 1990s, this new generation's high ease of use and technical quality clearly aim at mass marketing.

To examine spatial interaction techniques for stereoscopic 3D computer games is a difficult task, as the findings from virtual reality research can only be applied to a very limited extend. Thus, processing and utilizing input from the different hardware technologies requires a new and generalized approach of spatial interaction with a 3D game environment.