Tetratel to provide EyeFX tech to Xbox
We don't know exactly what it is, but Microsoft seem to think it's worth pursuing
Microsoft and Tetratel have today announced a strategic partnership which will bring the technology developed by EyeFX, a wholly own subsidiary of Tetratel to Xbox. The joint venture is currently codenamed TINProject, but NDAs preclude either side from detailing specifics to the press. Tetratel is a Canadian company, but we have heard little from them in the past. Their EyeFX product website can be found here but is fairly loose on details. According to the EyeFX description on their main website however, the system uses an "external hardware HeadSpace3D Vision System", in conjunction with technology built-in to the computer making use of EyeFX. "This technology does not take any processor time and therefore will not slow down your computer system." It seems that EyeFX is a cunning way of showing images in three dimensions, similar to the 3D Revelator glasses used by ELSA in their Gladiac series of GeForce-based graphics cards. In order to simulate 3D, EyeFX displays two very similar images on your monitor, one for each eye, and the brain interprets this as one single image, giving the illusion of depth. Tetratel's website also cites a few games which we've not heard of as compatible with the system, and blurts something about movies over the Internet using EyeFX, something which we are publically sceptical about. The applications for the system range from movie entertainment to professional graphics design according to Tetratel, but as far as we can see, this is the first major games coup the company has had to its name. Whatever their pitch was like, it must have been pretty competitive to get Microsoft into such a state.