(Phil Lelyveld note: This story has been virally spread for a day and made the front page of the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers this morning.)
Excerpts from the Wall Street Journal:
“Given scant evidence of medical dangers, it wasn’t known what prompted the warning from Nintendo, which echoed that of other 3-D manufacturers. Some people in the industry speculated that it was a prospective effort to fend off litigation.”
—
“Despite the warnings, eye specialists say there’s no proof that 3-D images seen in movies and used in games could harm a child’s developing eye, regardless of whether a viewer is wearing glasses or not.
Steven E. Rosenberg, a pediatric ophthalmologist at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, said 3-D images on a screen, with or without glasses, work the same way to present separate images to the right and left eye, which the brain combines into one 3-D image. He said there’s no reason to believe their effects on the developing eye would be different.
There may be, however, some theoretical reason for concern about heavy 3-D exposure for children under 3, whose vision is undergoing the most active development, said Kristina Tarczy-Hornoch, director of the Vision Development Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. It’s possible that a lot of time spent looking at 3-D images might have an impact on the development of normal binocular vision, she said. She and other physicians said there’s no clear reason why Nintendo has picked a cut-off of six years.”
The full Wall Street journal story, which includes interviews with researchers, is here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204304204576051021329863968.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
—————————————————-
Nintendo warns: No 3-D gaming for young players
Nintendo is warning parents that its forthcoming 3-D portable game machine may not be appropriate for the youngest gamers. More specifically, that no one under 6 years old should play 3-D games on it.
Earlier this year, Nintendo announced that it was working on a successor to its massively successful Nintendo DS handheld game machine. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, they showed off the 3DS, a device that lets gamers play games in 3-D but without the use of special glasses.
The gadget is scheduled to go on sale in Japan on Feb. 26 for about $300 and will launch in North America and other areas in March. Nintendo is in the midst of preparing to show the 3DS to the Japanese public for the first time at next month’s at the Nintendo World event. In advance of the event, the company issued the warning about children and 3-D via this web site.
Game site Kotaku.com translated the page and reports that it warns that 3-D viewing causes quicker eye fatigue than standard screen viewing, and says that since the vision of young children is still in developmental stages, the company recommends children under six not use the 3DS’s 3-D screen effect.
This warning follows comments made by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who told gaming site Kotaku.com, “We will recommend that very young children not look at 3-D images,” he said. “That’s because, [in] young children, the muscles for the eyes are not fully formed.”
He pointed out that this is the same message that’s being passed on by the movie industry as well.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, Sony issued very similar warnings about playing 3-D games (with the glasses) on the PlayStation 3 console.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America recommends that you “consult your doctor (such as a pediatrician or eye doctor) before allowing young children to watch 3-D video images or play stereoscopic 3-D games.”
But there’s good news for young Nintendo fans: The 3DS will come with a slider that lets players adjust the amount of 3-D they see in a game. The 3-D effects can be completely turned off for youngest players, and Nintendo executives have said the device will include parental controls for keeping the 3-D turned off.
Really, this is good news for parents of young gamers: The good ol’ non-3-D Nintendo DS or DSi will do your kids just fine until they’re old enough for the third dimension … and will cost you a whole lot less to buy.
——————–
3DS Can Harm Children’s Eyes, Nintendo Warns
Nintendo is banking on 3-D to keep its DS portable gaming system on top in an increasingly crowded field that now includes smartphones as well as Sony’s PlayStation Portable. But when the new no-glasses-required 3DS premieres next month at Nintendo World 2011 in Japan, it will come with a potentially troublesome disclaimer: Using the device can harm the vision of children under six.
Children under that age may face difficulty training their brains to focus their eyes after too much strain caused by the 3-D viewing, Nintendo fears, evidently heeding the advice of doctors.
As of Wednesday midday, there was no cautionary note posted under “safety warnings” or “info for parents” on Nintendo’s U.S. products web site, but a message posted on its Japanese site, widely translated by media, warns that “Vision of children under the age of six has been said [to be in the] developmental stage. [The 3DS] delivers 3D images with different left and right images, [which] has a potential impact on the growth of children’s eyes.”
High Stakes
The DS is the most successful handheld gaming device in history, having sold more than 128 million units since its debut in 2004, although sales dropped last year to around 27 million from more than 31 million in 2008.
In June, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimee, speaking at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, promised that the 3DS would raise the bar for gamers with its double 3.5-inch wide-screen lenses on the outside that can also display movies and photos in 3-D. “No more glasses!” he exclaimed.
A slider lets users determine the depth of the effect or turn it off completely to watch in one-dimensional mode. The U.S. price hasn’t been announced, but it is said to be priced at the equivalent of $300 in Japan.
Consumer-devices analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis said Nintendo had likely chosen the best time to release the warning — weeks ahead of the launch — “so every reaction will be taken into account,” and the image of dazzled and delighted kids using the device may overshadow the warning.
“I think it’s just a matter of crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s with legal requirements,” said Greengart.
Release Delayed
Another analyst, Jason Blackwell of ABI Research, said warnings on video games as well as 3-D televisions have become almost de rigueur.
“There haven’t been a lot of long-term studies of the effects of 3-D,” Blackwell said. “I think it’s more along the lines of [Nintendo] protecting themselves against potential lawsuits.”
He said ABI’s forecast for the 3DS is still strong. “The overall impact on the market for the product should be pretty minimal, unless it’s something along the lines of having a warning right on the box like cigarettes do. But from our perspective, the delays in releasing it may have more of an impact than anything else — after the holiday season, when it was supposed to be in November.”
Greengart said the two most important factors for the 3DS are the price and the extent of content from third-party developers who want to literally add new dimensions to their current game franchises.
“Nintendo has said they have had better luck recruiting third-party developers for the 3DS than for any other platform of its kind,” he said.
Dr. Michael Ehrenhaus, a New York ophthalmologist, told us that Nintendo is likely concerned about “chronic strain,” but added that “nothing has been proven. People are nervous because in the past there were games that caused epileptic seizures.”
He recommended that parents limit their kids to using video games in moderation and have regular eye exams.
—————-
In Asia, Nintendo Stock Plunges on 3-D Health Warning
In Asia Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.1% to 10,229. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.3% to 2,760, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1% to end the day at 22,999.
Japanese exporters are fighting the effects of a surging yen, which hit a new seven-week record of 81.50 yen per dollar today. Many see exporters as the key to bolstering the flailing Japanese economy. But a stronger yen shrinks the pot of money companies have earned, once they bring their profits back home. In addition, Sony, one of Japan’s big exporters, is now splashing out lawsuits against Korean competitor LG Electronics, which it claims is illegally using Sony’s technology in smartphones bound for the U.S., reports Bloomberg.
Nintendo Releases Health Warning for Young Children
Today, Sony (SNE) dropped 1%, despite rumors that it has plans to launch a portable PSP with a built-in smartphone. This would help Sony level the playing field against Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone. “If Sony can nail this, they could be on to a winner,” one industry insider told The Sun.
Nintendo suffered a 2.4% drop, with a new report showing that 3-D images, like the ones featured on its soon-to-be-released 3DS, could harm young children’s eyes. According to Sci-Tech Today, Nintendo is releasing the warning early to avoid legal problems later, saying that excessive use can be detrimental to eye development in kids under 6 years old.