Like pretty much anything that comes out nowadays with “3-D” in the title, Hasbro’s My3D — which lets you play 3-D games on your iPhone or iPod Touch — isn’t really great yet… but it has potential.
At the moment the device, available exclusively through Target until June, is basically a glorified View-Master. Snap your handheld into the appropriate tray, connect the tray to the viewfinder, close the device, and peer through the goggles to see your phone in three dimensions.
Thumb holes in the bottom of the contraption allow you to select menu options, navigate within games and — depending on what the game demands — shoot stuff.
There are six Hasbro games available for download (all free, for now) in the App Store and one 3-D hub, which lets you watch trailers for movies like Kung-Fu Panda 2 and scroll through 3-D pictures of fish and animals.
For the most part, unfortunately, the games and 3-D offerings are pretty dull. And, while there is some initial excitement at being immersed in your iPhone, it wears off pretty fast.
Sector 17, for example, is a space-based shooter, where you play the role of a gunner and take down approaching enemy space ships. They come at you from all sides — all the game environments are 360 degrees — and you tap a button on the iPhone screen to fire lasers at them.
It’s fun, but a bit repetitive and not very nuanced, though younger kids would likely be entertained by any of the games offered.
All of this could easily be remedied by an SDK. Game developers — any developers, actually — would have a field day coming up with ways to use the 3-D in new ways. As far as that’s concerned, however, Hasbro simply says “stay tuned.”
The company also says it plans to release new 3-D games throughout the year. Hopefully, they’re a bit more developed.
All that considered, the low price point is enough to make it a reasonable impulse buy, especially for people who love 3-D. It’s an easy bet that once the games start getting good, the My3D will be an essential purchase for anyone who loves playing on their phone. If you can get past the occasional bout of motion sickness and looking like a big dork when you use it in public.
WIRED Reasonably priced. Games are good for kids. Watching trailers for 3-D movies in actual 3-D is fun. People with glasses won’t have trouble seeing through the view finder.
TIRED Navigating through the thumb holes is a bit awkward. The games available leave much to be desired for serious gamers or adults. Price points for future apps is still an unknown. No case.
Photos by Jon Snyder/Wired
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