3D films for me have always been about those corny movies in theme parks with pirates throwing snakes at you or ghosts flying right over your head.
They were a complete novelty and one of my favourite things to do as a kid, hence why I ran like a headless goose to go find them.
So I was completely unconvinced with the latest roster of CGI films (although some have been great) sticking 3D in, from studios such as Pixar. I always found myself not too sure if my glasses were working, that for me shows the 3D just wasn’t good.
Although I do swear I saw some depth when I was watching channel 4’s 3D week, there’s no real fun in that. After being quite expectedly let down by recent 3D efforts, I was sure 3D was a novelty to be confined to the 90’s or to theme park rides.
That was however until recently big names in the games industry such as Ubisoft started throwing out quotes such as “3D is to pictures what Dolby Stereo was to sound”, although perhaps not everyone enjoys 2.1 or 5.1 surround sound when they play games I am certain no one plays to mono sound rather than stereo; so this is kind of big thing to say.
Sony has too been saying in the past couple of weeks that they are fully backing 3D gaming in the future, so that could mean a whole host of games supporting 3D. Now it is best to take into account that Sony has a vested interest in such things, they are developing 3D televisions of their own after all, but it is evidence that the gaming industry might be about to take 3D very seriously.
3D televisions have been flaunted recently for a second year at numerous gadget expos, so keep an eye out for all big television brands releasing them over the next year; it will be interesting to see how effective they really are and if people buy into them. They’ll need to look good because it’s suggested, even when prices simmer down, 3D will add another £600 to the price of a TV.
Sky seems to think it will take off and are currently testing out a 3D service. This may seem somewhat irrelevant to video games but if homes start to fill with high quality 3D TV’s then that is certainly the path home consoles are going to follow. In fact PC gaming giant NVIDIA has just released Geforce 3D Vision, a set of almost stylish glasses and wireless plugs that let you enjoy 3D while gaming on a PC.
They work with over 300 already released titles and are meeting critical acclaim; apparently the depth given off really makes it feel as though you could tilt your head to look around a corner, and the in game HUD looks as though it’s hovering above the action.
This all sounds really good but the most basic package is coming in at $199 and you can only get that providing you are running a PC rig up to date enough to handle it.
So, yeah, that’s expensive. However it does seem that we are on the horizon of what may be a 3D revolution, it’s becoming more apparent that perhaps it was only a fad in the nineties because the technology simply wasn’t good enough for anything more.
Now with high definition well accepted, foundations have been set for 3D gaming and 3D media.
Still, maybe I’ll only be convinced when it has me ducking under snakes again.
Daniel Rowbotham