Toronto, ON's Sheridan College claims to have created a 3D game that does not require those unsightly glasses; and the fun will be demonstrated at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

The game, called IC3D, allows players to use a BlackBerry mobile phone as a controller to assemble puzzles. At the Olympics, gamers will be able to piece together images of Ontario tourist attractions.
In all, the game features 20 Ontario landmarks displayed as "icicons" (a name penned by the college) on 46" Spatial View auto-stereoscopic 3D screens. The pieces of the image appear scattered, and each player (up to five at a time) works together to put the image back together. Once complete, a multimedia presentation of the attraction is displayed on the screen. The game was created by students at Sheridan's Visualization Design Institute, in partnership with Toronto, ON-based Spatial View, which develops 3D image processing and display technologies. It uses Spacial's custom parallex barrier technology that can be used with screens from 19" to 46" in size for commercial applications.

In addition to this technology, Spatial View is also known for its 3D lenticular lenses, which fit over top a mobile phone's screen to afford the ability to view 3D imagery. In essence, it's like a pair of "glasses" that are positioned on the image itself rather than over your eyes. Spatial View has already marketed a line of these screen overlays, along with skins, for the iPhone, that work with companion apps that sell through the iTunes App Store under the Wazabee name. Naturally, the Olympic venture takes the 3D initiative to a much larger scale.

"This unique and innovative collaboration not only demonstrates the province's commitment to innovation in technology," says Jill Birch, Sheridan's Vice President of Business Development, "but we think it is a model for how technology companies and educational institutions with expertise in applied research can partner to create technological breakthroughs."

The game will be featured in the Ontario House Pavilion at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, which begin this Friday, February 12, 2010.

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