Meet PDI Check, a $99 eye-exam 3DS app

This is not what anyone would imagine a $99 3DS game would look like, or even that such a thing would ever exist at all.

But here it is in broad daylight, a hundred dollar game that's intended to be a clinically viable vision screening tester (released yesterday, May 23rd).

This product appears to be a collaboration between licensed ophthalmologists and a PhD candidate in technology and humanities, so there is some legitimacy behind the endeavor. Whether that translates to a single sale at this price is yet to be seen.

Note: This game is only available in the US / North American eShop. Additionally, the "Stereo" test requires the 3D feature. Despite there being no warning on the download page, you can purchase this expensive game on a 2ds(XL) and not realize this.



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aykay55

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I mean I guess it’s not unheard of, if you go to the Louvre museum they have a bunch of 3DSs available to use as your tour guides. They actually released the software on the eShop a year or two ago as well.
 

tbb043

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Wouldn't pay for it.

Probably wouldn't even download it for free, but maybe would just out of curiosity.

I don't mind that it exists, whatever the price. If it helps eyedoctors, great.
 

coppertj

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Who would test their vision with this? Like yeah, I can imagine it now...
>be me walks into eye doctor with 3ds
Me: yeah doc lets skip the whole thing I want these prescriptions chop chop!
Doctor: Ok come to the back to the tester
Me: But... I tested my own sight
Doctor (whos in his late 40s-50s): wtf are you talking about thats a game console I bought a couple years ago for my son
In all honesty though, if you want to forgo the whole (99 dollar eye screening which is what I pay when I get my eyes check) and just order your glasses from 1-800-contacts (MY BRAND) I could see someone using (possibly in a country where economics are not good) this maybe a way to help the public in lower poverty countries. A lot of countries it's either pirating, or no video gaming, this could help the general public even if they pirate it. A doctor's job is to help patients, if a pirate used this for themselves, is it bad? This is for their own health and are not using it in a professional business like setting.

I for one applaud the doctors who spent the time translating the eye screening to the 3ds and I really do hope this helps some people in low poverty areas, I really hope I read stories about this someday.
 

Ryccardo

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If I had an American console I probably would :P
(I have an O2DS but the effort to region change it is the thing I consider overly expensive more than the software)
 

templeofhylia

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am i mistaken or is that icon literally just the same one used for one of the 3ds's dev apps? not sure which one it is off the top of my head but i wanna say the coin setter or config one.
 

Silent_Gunner

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Infer what you will

So...if I ever lose my 20/20 vision and need to get my eyes checked, I will want to do it myself on a 3DS screen? Or will it be used to pass the time at the optometrist? It's going to help customers pass the time when they have smartphones or portable gaming devices of their own?

I'm afraid I don't see the practicality of this investment.
 

regnad

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You guys are all poo pooing this game, but you'll be sorry when I kick your asses in Smash with The Optometrist™.
 
Last edited by regnad,

Tony_93

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The issue I have with this app is that you have to input your answer with your hand using a stylus. And it goes beyond just testing your visusl acuity but your reflexes too. I mean, someone with poor reflexes will get worse results than those with average/good ones.

  • Ex: I once tried to have my 50 year old uncle to play a game on my PS4. He had never played a videogame in his life before that day. And despite him using TV remotes everyday and having a good sight his inputs were so awful that you would think a two year old was holding the controller. It looked like he was trying to flight a plane qnd he was terrified to touch anything.
I'm pretty sure they tried to account for this but someone inputting late may be registered as a "sight failure" when it had to do with reflexes instead.
 

FAST6191

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The issue I have with this app is that you have to input your answer with your hand using a stylus. And it goes beyond just testing your visusl acuity but your reflexes too. I mean, someone with poor reflexes will get worse results than those with average/good ones.

  • Ex: I once tried to have my 50 year old uncle to play a game on my PS4. He had never played a videogame in his life before that day. And despite him using TV remotes everyday and having a good sight his inputs were so awful that you would think a two year old was holding the controller. It looked like he was trying to flight a plane qnd he was terrified to touch anything.
I'm pretty sure they tried to account for this but someone inputting late may be registered as a "sight failure" when it had to do with reflexes instead.
I once had a conversation with a dentist about dealing with dementia patients (they have teeth issues like everybody else) and apparently it was not easy -- they mention to a carer that they had tooth pain this morning and might have forgotten when the appointment rolls around a day or two later, not to mention tooth might be "code" for I whacked my elbow. Does not mean you abandon patient history though for them and especially not your non dementia addled patients.

The medicine side of things here I don't know enough to particularly question, though simple visual acuity I am told is in some ways a lesser aspect of it -- the whole looking into the eye examination, puff of air in the eye and all that jazz likely doing far more, and a backlit letter board and tape measure to put a line on the floor not being too radical compared to the "is this or this better" machine (don't know if this fakes something there by going the other way).

My issue remains the 3ds seems like an odd choice for this. Having now ubiquitous devices like consoles and general purpose tablets do interesting things for medical fields is nothing new ( https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/03/software_patent_disabled_children_ipad/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/15/speak_for_yourself_app_judgment/ ). Before phones and tablets with easy end user programming took off, or took off in America at least (most of Europe and Japan had something like it, albeit nowhere near as free and open as even Apple were/are, never mind Android -- we had phone viruses in 2004 https://www.infoworld.com/article/2671045/cabir-mobile-phone-virus-spreads-to-france--japan.html https://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/cabir.shtml ), then the handhelds and consoles often provided a nice in here by virtue of them being high powered (for the time) devices capable of some measure of computing -- https://web.archive.org/web/20160121120549/http://reinerziegler.de/GBA/gba.htm
There might be something to be said for a measure of standardisation, and it might be that the 3d screen being there by default for probably the majority of models means something else could be achieved that more conventional non 3d screens, possibly of various sizes and resolutions, would be a bit of a headache to work around.
 

tatumanu

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As a consumer I can get my eyes checked for free.

If i was a serious doctor /optician I would be a fool to test patients using a low res stereoscopic gaming system filled with ghosting and poor eye tracking.
 

zoogie

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am i mistaken or is that icon literally just the same one used for one of the 3ds's dev apps? not sure which one it is off the top of my head but i wanna say the coin setter or config one.
That dev icon is there because he's showing off an old build on a dev unit for some reason.

Honestly it looks better than the final retail icon imo (surprise surprise).
f566aaa81ccc1a3a8f7464b0a1719480d21022853d4ea7bc93dbace1b28d3fc0.jpg
 
Last edited by zoogie,
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