3D gaming is not proving to be the stand-out success Nintendo was hoping for on its handheld 3DS game console.
According to a newly released survey, a large number of players claim it detracts from the gaming experience.
Research outfit Interpret LLC recently polled 1600 adults to find out how people were liking Nintendo’s glasses-free gaming experience, only to discover that the answer was “not much.”
Only 22 percent of respondents said the 3D effect made gameplay any better, while 28 percent said it made the experience worse and 13 percent of all players preferred to play the console with 3D completely disabled.
That’s not heartening news for Nintendo, whose only positive take-away from the survey is the fact that at least awareness of the device’s 3D ability was significantly up over last year.
Having said that, only 28 percent of those who knew about the 3DS realized that it was a glasses-free experience, so perhaps Nintendo can’t pat its marketing team on the back too heartily.
Indeed, according to Interpret’s senior vice president of strategy and analysis Dan Casey, the issue is still very much about increasing awareness and personal experience with 3D devices, even if over a quarter of users feel it makes gaming worse and an increased number are reporting dizziness and nausea. (37 percent of respondents in this year’s survey reported feeling ill after watching 3D entertainment which is up from 2010’s 30 percent).
That doesn’t mean 3D is a complete write-off, however, says Casey.
Apparently a full 56 percent of respondents described their “ideal 3D gaming experience” as hooking a 3D enabled console up to a TV, for that bigger screen experience and a further 23 percent also said they felt 3D might give them some sort of advantage over their competition in multiplayer games.
