Jusr an open posting about what those 3D rinters might do for computer games (and games in general)

The way the technology is going they will have these machines alongside the picture printers at specialty and general shops sooner than later.

Custom props for a game -- to fondle while a level is loading ?

'skins' for game controllers matching the games theme ??

all kinds of game paraphernalia (patterns) you get with a game to be 'printed' (some future mechanism to block easy cloning/copy limiting)

It'll sure make tabletop wargaming a lot cheaper. I could also see video games coming with printer designs for models from the game, the way collector's editions sometimes come with collectible models, but with no extra production and shipping cost.

I don't think we are close enough for this to be common place, maybe in a decade or so, but i'd be highly doubtful we'd see dev's doing this anytime in the next few years.

Assuming they became common-place and the operating costs weren't overly high they would be fantastic for table-top gaming, and you could certainly produce accessories (figurines, controller covers, etc.) for video games, but they're not really something that's directly applicable to video game design unless you intend to produce something similar to Skylanders -- a video game which utilises physical models -- where players are able to create new characters/content.

They're definitely still quite a way from being common however, with even the cheapest printers costing around $1000 or more and operating costs also being reasonably high.

They take their time to "print" stuff. Unless your game takes hours to load a scene, I don't see them printing directly usable things for a game.

I foresee downloadable board games, Sites springing up, like open-source-boad-games.com, where people post an ad for their board game, along with the rules/how to play, and include a download link for the 3D Objects as needed by various 3D printer applications.

I can also imagine Pausing a game (or a game in replay) and selecting the key parts, like two characters in a clash. Then instead of saving the screen shot, you save the scene in a 3D printer compatible format. And part of the game is to actually help you make really awesome 3D action models/scenes.

I don't foresee this as large scale, but heavy enough for major board game companies to feel worried, though not at a significant loss. Marketing and shelf space is a huge part of how games sell successfully.

Player Awards? You gain the 3D Model printer version while you get some other award in the game.

They take their time to "print" stuff. Unless your game takes hours to load a scene, I don't see them printing directly usable things for a game.

I first saw this technology like 20 years ago and its become easier to do and faster and will probably become alot faster yet (and cheaper).

Timeframe may be something like in next 5 - 10 years

Most likely you would not own the machine yourself but would go to a machine at your local supermarket like the way they have photo printer machine now.

Player Awards? You gain the 3D Model printer version while you get some other award in the game.

How to make them uncopyable (so you dont just post the pattern on the internet for anyone to make the same thing)

The machines (store owned) would get the pattern (3D construction instructions) downloaded on-the-fly as a temporay data (part of the app that runs the machine) It could be controlled that way. The store would get part of the profits and carry the expense (neat way to get people to their store when then spend fortunes now on advertising to do the same thing .....)

Actually, a 3D scanner was announced not long ago, so I'd expect DRM on 3D printers to be quite futile except for quite complex things (especially anything with mechanical parts). It's pretty much vulnerable to the 3D equivalent of analog hole.