3D has been hyped (ad nauseam) as the salvation of the movie industry. But will it do anything for gaming – or is the resurrected format little more than a curiosity?
Well, Microsoft seems to be doing its part, as the company plans a November release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in 3D. And in current Hollywood fashion, the game has been dubbed a “remake” of Halo.
As Kevin Grace, who’s the franchise manager at 343 Industries told Ars Technica, “This is just one more thing we wanted to add, one more thing that we couldn’t have done in the original version. Being a science fiction shooter with all the plasma blasts coming your way, you can see them in ways you wouldn’t see bullets coming at you.”
As with everything with our current economy, gaming is in the toilet, reportedly hitting its worst point since 2006, according to GamesBeat down 26% from last year, although as the site points out, this is retail sales where “other digital sales – including used games, rentals, online games, mobile games and social games – show constant growth.”
So perhaps to try and bring things back big, you bring back the big blockbuster, and hope 3D will be even sweeter icing on the cake.
As Gizmodo’s Adam Frucci wrote way back in March 2010, “I’ve been skeptical of the big push for 3D in TVs and movies. But I just played the first 45 minutes or so of Metro 2033 on a top-of-the-line 3D-enabled gaming rig and, well, wow.”
Sure, it’s definitely going to cost you some serious cash if you want to get the best gear for PC 3D gaming, but as Frucci continues, “What was exciting about this was that it felt like a glimpse into the near future.”
And as Andy Codina of Igxpro writes, with Microsoft “finally taking its first step” into [Xbox 360] 3D, and with “fully remastered gameplay, top of the line physics, a whole new campaign, Xbox Live co-op support, a bunch of new maps and other gameplay tweaks will sure make this game the best FPS release of the season.”
