3D, 3D; it’s one of the most polarizing, technological advancements in all of media. Some people are consistently intrigued over the idea of being brought closer to their movie experiences through flashy, in-your-face visual spectacle that can truly sell the entire idea of actually seeing the movie at all (Avatar is an excellent example of this). Video-games on the other hand, are an entirely different story. This is surprising seeing how gaming has evolved rapidly over the past couple of years, to include motion-controllers, a wider range of gaming platforms, far more sophisticated graphics and deeper ways of interacting with other people online.
Yet for all of the amazing possibilities contained therein, 3D hasn’t been able to stay afloat within the video game world: as a matter of fact, most people are of the opinion that 3D in gaming is flat-out dead. This can be attributed to a number of different factors; for starters, upgrading your TV and donning glasses when playing video-games is not an ideal way to get your 3D fix. Moreover, dedicated gamers who can casually sit down and play games for hours on end with no breaks will find 3D to be a tiring and headache inducing experience. People are already getting some incredible visual experiences from plain, old 2D, so feeling fatigue and strained from a slight increase in the visual fidelity doesn’t seem like a worthy endeavor.
Even worse, developers are struggling hard to provide an invigorating 3D-product whilst also avoiding slicing the frame-rate. After all, shooting up Helghast soldiers in Sony’s Killzone 3 in 3D is only so exciting when things are chugging along like a slideshow. It’s then when you really start to wonder if the brain and eye-strain is really worth enduring for a little visual gloss.
3DS is more of a viable solution – not incorporating glasses and not forcing the customer to upgrade their TV’s. Sadly, it’s still an expensive option and seeing how the “wow” factor of 3D quickly blows over, it’s a seriously questionable proposition value. If 3D can have a chance of being an actual bullet-point in today’s games – it’s going to require some drastic reconfiguring; what do you think? Is 3D dead for good, or is it merely just falling in order to work itself up?
