LG's 3D Game Converter will turn 2D Android games into 3D titles

Will initially work for the Optimus 3D smartphone.

3D content is a key selling point for LG's Optimus 3D Android smartphone, but how to ensure there's plenty of it available? 3D films are plentiful, but 3D Android games are rather less so. Thankfully, there's now an application conversion engine for that.

It's called 3D Game Converter, and is being unveiled at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin this week. The feature will be pushed to the Optimus 3D in its first software update this October.

The software will convert existing OpenGL-based 2D games to 3D, without developers having to completely recode them. Optimus 3D owners can choose to switch games into 3D and back again, according to preference.

LG will have optimised settings for around 50 2D games by October, and 50 more by the end of 2011. Here's the science bit:
"Far from being a gimmick, LG’s 3D Game Converter automatically recognizes the depth information based on the location of each object and separates the 2D graphic images for each eye," says LG's 3D technology evangelist Dr Henry Nho.

"Using the existing depth information, the 3D Game Converter generates two different images -- one for the foreground and one for the background. It then uses a thin film called Parallax Barrier on the display to show the left image to the left eye and the right image to the right eye, creating an illusion of visual depth."