One of the highlights of Acer during Computex 2023 is their set of SpatialLabs ProDevices — Acer’s Stereoscopic 3D Solution. As soon as I entered the Acer Computex booth, this was definitely the first few things that caught my eye. Because how couldn’t they? The SpatialLabs devices showed off the ability to deliver a 3D experience WITHOUT the need for 3D glasses.
At first glance, the SpatialLabs Monitors didn’t seem look any different than your usual monitors… that is until you notice the seemingly distorted images in the display. Once you get into the proper position, however, and your eyes adjust, you are treated to a smooth 3D visual experience that is practically mind-blowing. Seeing particle effects practically jump out from your screen and seeing more “layered” graphics to your game immediately made me excited imagining how gaming sessions would be enriched with such technology. The display units even showed various applications of the Spatial Labs 3D Devices. Two machines with single monitor set-ups showed off gameplay from the FPS and RPG genre. It was interesting to see Octopath Traveler II play with such settings. Another set-up had 3 monitors synced up to each other and was playing a looping cinematic featuring explosions and all kinds of debris and particles flying about. In every situation, we were just floored with the practical application of glasses-free 3D tech.
They didn’t stop there though as we took the time to enter this small booth set-up which housed an Acer rep and another gaming set-up. This, of course, had the same graphical set-up but what was unique about this was how the sounds of the game seemed to have a whole “surround” feel to it. To our surprise, all of that was simply coming from just 2 speakers! While the software currently is in its beta form, they assured that the tech will roll-out in all SpatialLabs 3D devices.
While developing games with SpatialLabs in mind is the most optimal way to perfect the 3D immersion experience, there are currently around 100 games that already are compatible with the SpatialLabs devices.
It was clear that SpatialLabs 3D was really gunning to be a game changer for the gaming industry.
There was however, one point of concern for me – eye strain. For the short amount of time that we were there, I did feel a bit of strain on my eyes which was a bit worrisome given that typical gaming sessions last for so much longer. We were able to bring this up to Jane Hsu, Head of Business Development for Spatial Computing.
“We did a lot of testing and we found that it varies from person to person. Some people needed rest after 30 minutes but we also had a gamer that went three hours straight and still wanted to just keep going. It’s actually your brain, rather than your eyes, that’s doing all the extra processing and, by and large, it does take getting used to.”, said Jane.
While they were unable to share a specifics on their future plans, we did get to ask Jane what would be a gamer dream of hers that she wanted to achieve with this kind of tech. “I want to see this with Final Fantasy VII Remake – I mean one thing is the visual quality but also because it also has a lot of storytelling. I imagine that with the camera panning out, gamer are usually like ‘I have to see this in 3D’. So that’s something we’re still working on – how our technology can understand the scene and then do auto adjustment. I’d really love to see this on Final Fantasy. There’s definitely a challenge but I think we can get there.”
For more on Acer SpatialLabs, you can check their official site out.