Digital Comics and Gaming – WonderCon 2011
April 2, 2011 – San Francisco, CA – The WonderCon show this year featured both traditonal print comics and a large variety of digital comics. All of the major publishers have produced some sort of reader for digital comics. These readers have appeared on multiple platforms including windows, Mac OS, Android phones and tables and iPhone/iPad. In order to promote the format, these readers are available free along with some content. The majority of the other content, is purchase per copyor monthly subscription, and the content available for viewing on multiple platforms – similar to the Kindle reader model.
iPad and iPod Touch Digital Comics
These readers have a number of formats from full page on the PC with a magnifying glass box to show the text and details on the artwork, to full page with scaling on the iPad to single frame on the iPhone. These readers are available from DC Comics, Marvel, and now Dark Horse Comics. In addition to these major providers, there are also a number of independent companies with products.
A number of video games that were themed with comic books were also displayed. These games were shown on three primary platforms – the PS3, the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS. The new 3DS had a booth of its own to show off the VR games, new 3D games and several classic DS games that could now be played on the handheld unit. This was one of the largest crowds at the show. In addition to the Nintendo booth, just about every new game that was show by either a publisher or game company was showing the product on the 3DS.
Nintendo 3DS
It was the dominant platform at the show, and 95%+ comments from users was the product was a design and use winner. With 3D becoming a mainstay of the gaming and motion picture industry, the 3DS platform should help move the cause along quickly. The two features that grabbed the most attention, besides gaming, were the 3D camera and the WiFi connectivity. These provide ease of use for creating and sharing content – especially in 3D.
