In Sony’s press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which is currently under way the company revealed plans to invest heavily in 3D home entertainment. The concept of 3D movies and gaming is an exciting one, and Sony plans to use the PS3 as one of the pivotal instruments in making it a reality.
According to Sony, they are not too far off, and with a simple firmware upgrade current PS3 hardware is ready to support the technology. Journalists currently at the event which is taking place in Las Vegas were able to get hands on time with fully functional 3D games such as Avatar, Super Stardust HD and a “demo of Gran Turismo”.
While PS3 owners will be pleased to learn that their current console hardware is ready for the leap to 3D, they will most probably have to upgrade to a 3D enable HD TV. According to IGN a Sony representative claimed that the PS3 in conjunction with the new 3D-enabled Bravia TVs is capable of displaying full HD 1080p 3D visuals, a claim which is at odds with a previous report stating that in order to run 1080p 3D TV users will require HDMI 1.4, a technology not supported by the PS3.
Furthermore, they will need a pair of active shutter 3D glasses in order to “decode” the dual image display into believable 3D.
The jury is still out on whether 3D gaming is a legitimate way forward or just a very expensive gimmick. On one hand, the added emersion provided by 3D environments has a lot of potential. However, for it to be truly revolutionary developers will have to start writing games with 3D in mind. A simple 3D tack-on to a game world, which is not designed in the appropriate dimensions, may not impress gamers for very long.
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