3DS video game system might be hazardous to the health of children
younger than 6, according to a warning posted Wednesday on the Japanese
video game company’s website.
“Vision of children under the age of 6 (is in) the developmental stage,”
3DS, 3-D, including 3-D movies and television, delivers 3-D images with
different left and right eye images,” which “has a potential impact on
the growth of children’s eyes.”
The 3DS is the gaming giant’s latest version of its
DS line of handheld video game consoles. The feature of the 3DS that
separates it from
other DS systems: It can handle 3-D gaming and movies, displaying the
depth-adding effect without requiring users to wear 3-D glasses.
Although
is advising that only the preschool crowd refrain from using the new
system’s 3-D feature, it also recommends in its note that all players —
children and adults — should take breaks from its glasses-free 3-D
gaming every 30 minutes, or whenever a user feels sick.
The 3DS will also have a “3-D volume” sliding button
that will let users tone down the level of depth of 3-D images, the
notice said.
It also said the 3DS would have a parental control
feature that could restrict the console’s screens to traditional 2-D
images. Games, movies and other media displayed in 2-D will be safe for
gamers younger than 6, the
There is “enough for everyone to enjoy,” it said.
The 3DS isn’t
first try at 3-D video games. In 1995 the company released the Virtual
Boy, which had two LED screens that displayed black and red 3-D effects
in a viewfinder-like device.
The Virtual Boy didn’t catch on. It was discontinued in 1996 and is one of
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