I’ll absolutely admit that when 3D TVs first hit the market I was very excited about the idea of watching movies and playing games in the resurrected format.
However, I knew that most people would inevitably wait until the prices came down and the need for uncomfortable and expensive active glasses evaporated. Yes, there are some TVs finally starting to appear on the market using passive glasses, yet I still don’t think we’ve reached a tipping point for 3D TV adoption.
Many people believe the adoption of 3D as a mainstream format can be accelerated by mass acceptance of 3D video games.
The problem? There aren’t many 3D titles out there for gamers to enjoy.
Indeed, Electronic Arts (EA) chief operating officer Peter Moore recently confirmed that 3D technology “just doesn’t seem to be a major factor” in the gaming realm right now.
“3D is certainly not in any way on our list of things we are focused upon as a company,” Moore told CVG. It’s just not a technology particularly in our world of gaming that seems to have got traction. If I was skeptical 18 months ago I remain skeptical.”
Nevertheless, Sony’s European PlayStation head Jim Ryan has reiterated that the Japanese-based company will continue to support stereoscopic 3D for gaming on the PS3.
“We spoke about it at E3 two years ago and everyone put their glasses on for the first time, and the next year we did the same and everyone did it again,” he said. “Y’know, there comes a time when you don’t need to talk about it any more.”
Another example of 3D gaming that hasn’t taken off in a big way is the Nintendo 3DS. The console has been moderately successful, but certainly, nothing along the lines of what Nintendo had hoped for. Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata acknowledged that he doesn’t believe 3D graphics will be a major feature in Nintendo’s future game systems, though it may remain as a minor feature.
“I think when we launched the 3DS there was a kind of 3D boom, which is perhaps slightly on the wane again,” he added.
