Blitz dates stereoscopic Kung-Fu game

By Robert Purchese Published 15 July, 2009

Invincible Tiger for XBLA, PSN in August.

Blitz Games co-founder Andrew Oliver has told Eurogamer that Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao will be released in August.

That's the stereoscopic-3D enabled Kung-Fu platformer, which will apparently cost 1200 Microsoft Points (GBP 10.20 / EUR 14.40).

Stereoscopic 3D means you can - if you have a telly that can handle it (and only one in the UK currently can) - pop goggles on and play the game in proper 3D.

Oliver demonstrated the game to us at the Brighton Develop Conference. After donning a pair of clunky prototype 3D glasses and switching to 3D mode, lo and behold, the 2D platform levels were lent a very impressive level of depth, as if one could reach into the scene.

To achieve this, the engine Han Tao runs on needs to pump out a 60FPS game. The details are less intricate, then, but the game has a fast and furious Hong Kong cinema pace and feel as a result. It's quite tricky, too.

Look out for our full interview with Andrew Oliver about the technology, plus our hands-on impressions of Han Tao, soon.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (17) 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Gnort #1 3 years ago

    It seems to me to be a bit of a waste to develop a game which pretty much nobody will have the technology to make use of. If the addition of stereoscopic visuals was a simple process, then it's not much of a problem, but I'd hate to see them have less time to refine the gameplay or have to scale back the graphical fidelity of the game for a feature that won't be used.

  • grimly_reaped #2 3 years ago

    At the same time though, if no-one ever used the tech, why would anyone buy the TV? Until games / movies / TV start using the tech, there's no reason for the consumer to buy the fancy TV, and if no-one buys it then other manufacturers won't launch competitive models and the price will never drop ...
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 10:48

  • collateral89 #3 3 years ago

    only one person in the uk can watch in 3D surely thats wrong or have i just misunderstood?

  • MasterNameless #4 3 years ago

    @ j,taurus

    "if you have a telly that can handle it (and only one in the UK currently can)"

    You misunderstood. Check the context. :)
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 10:55

  • Freek #5 3 years ago

    I think it means there's only one model currently on the market in the UK that supports it.
    Although it's probably so expensive only one or two people are silly enough to buy it.

  • kangarootoo #6 3 years ago

    Seems fair as a technical experiement, and I guess it will work as a platformer if you TV doesn't do 3D.

  • paulf #7 3 years ago

    I played this a couple of weeks ago, and it was quite interesting, not sure the 3d adds that much but good on them for making a game using new tech. Iirc it works with the old school red/blue glasses as well as the new ones

  • symmetry #8 3 years ago

    What's the make and model of this 3D TV that's available over here then?

    Can't seem to find it anywhere.

  • ukslim #9 3 years ago

    Seems churlish not to provide a red/green version for people who have the glasses lying around.

  • agparrot #10 3 years ago

    I'm all for the pioneering of new technologies, but as I don't have stereoscopic vision, this is one I'm not going to be able to take advantage of.

    Probably save me the cost of a very expensive TV, though!

  • makeamazing #11 3 years ago

    I believe the 3D screen is from Nvidia isnt it?

  • muters #12 3 years ago

    How are they hoping to sell the game if hardly anybody (at least in the UK) has a TV that can make use of it? It's like releasing a single film on Blu-Ray before anyone's even heard of the format, let alone owns a player.

  • chanderzz #13 3 years ago

    you do all realise that this works without the stereoscopic stuff too right? So you can all still play the game.

  • _ninge_ #14 3 years ago

    Hi, I'm the technical manager on Invincible Tiger at Blitz Games. Just thought I'd answer a few of your questions!

    First, 3D viewing modes are optional - the game still runs in traditional 2D-o-vision and looks pretty damn lovely too imho :)

    As well as the full stereoscopic mode the game does indeed support the old red/green (and red/blue and red/cyan and cyan/yellow and green/pink) anaglyph type glasses that we've all seen before that give a 3d effect. So even if you don't have a spangly new 3D Ready TV yet, you can still get in on the action so to speak!

    Also the tech was very much developed alongside the game - marrying the two together just sort of happened and we definately didn't spend less time polishing the game in order to add it :) the whole team is looking forward to seeing what you guys think to our new school, old school brawler when the demo hits next month!
    Edited by 1 at 15/07/09 @ 14:43

  • rprince #15 3 years ago

    No only can no-one use this until more TVs support it, but what's the point if the game's only a 2D platformer?!?!?!?

  • RobertDeZero #16 3 years ago

    Hang on, this is a 2D platformer that's been pushed into 3D. So it runs at 60fps in 2D and 60fps in "3D".

    Will this make 3D games ala Wolfenstein, Crysis yadda-yadda more immersive? Or will we see a GOTY Edition of LBP in "3D"?

    This idea works for films because it's passive entertainment. Games? Hmm... I'll pass thanks.

  • Gnort #17 3 years ago

    @_ninge_

    Always nice to see developers respond to comments about their games. You've pretty much addressed my concerns, looking forward to trying the game out next month.