Nintendo Accesses3DS's Camera For More Adventure in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

New details have been released about Nintendo's newest addition to the  Pokemon Mystery Dungeon franchise and its use of the Nintendo 3DS's image capture abilities.  The "Magna gate software," uses the 3DS's image capture software to transform the images of "round objects," such as C.D.s, eggs, even the open area of a cup, and transform them into data that creates unique dungeons based on the qualities of the images.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon property of Nintendo,
Image credit to http://www.fanpop.com/spots/pokemon-mystery-dungeon/images/9121288/title/pokemon-mystery-dungeon-photo

The concept of accessing data from outside of a product and utilizing it to create individualized content is hardly a new one.  Games such as Monster Rancher, Audio Surf, Elite Beat Agents,  even the Guitar Hero Franchise have all made compelling content by accessing different flavors of this feature. The real questions about the addition of this feature spawn from the specificity of what is required to activate the software. How round must an object be before the game will recognize it as a possible candidate for image capture? Is 'quality of shape' the only standard by which the image is recognized and categorized? Will context, color, opacity, or stability of structure (I.E. if the photo is of a pond versus a soccer ball) play a part in the individuality of the generated content.  The addition of this feature could seriously add to the replay value of the franchise, or could simply pass under the radar as a small gimmick.  More to come as details are released.
Until then, you can access the Japanese trailer for the game and its use of the 3DS's camera software here
-T