3D... Just a gimmick?
Entry posted by Nathan Strum
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The answer to that would be "yes".
I went to Best Buy today (now there's an ironically named store), and finally checked out a couple of 3D products for the home. First, was 3D HDTV.
Now, I hadn't been able to try this yet, because in my previous visits to Best Buy, they didn't have any working displays. Usually, the 3D glasses had been broken, or were missing, or didn't have batteries in them or whatever. This time though, someone had the bright idea of permanently mounting the glasses to a stand in front of one of the TVs. I think the glasses were powered through the stand too, so they wouldn't have to keep replacing batteries. All they would need to do is wipe the forehead sweat off the glasses from time to time. Which is kind of gross when you realize that the likelihood of them actually doing that is zero. 
Right, so the 3D itself. This was a Blu-Ray of Avatar, running on about a 50" set. (Presumably, a pretty-good set if the purpose is to sell the whole concept of 3D in the home.) And Avatar, if any film, should look good in 3D, right? Since that was its whole big marketing thing (and having seen it in the theater in 3D, I thought it worked pretty well there). But the problem with 3D on a TV set, is it's never going to fill up your field of vision. And as soon as anything breaks the plane of the TV set, the effect is instantly ruined. You have half of a naked, blue alien chick floating in the middle of your living room. Also, everything past a certain depth completely flattened out. It always looked as if what should have been a deep forest or expansive vista was just a flat painting a few yards behind the characters. And things that floated in front of the screen were just a distraction, rather than helping to immerse me into the scene. Besides all of that - the flicker was annoying. And I was only watching this for a few minutes. I couldn't stand two hours of it. 3D HDTV is a gimmick. Nothing more. It may catch on with some gamers or hard-core sports fans, but Joe Public isn't going to buy into it, once they realize that 1) there really isn't very much 3D content out there, 2) you have to put on stupid, flickering glasses and 3) it really just doesn't work. For theatrical movies, in a theater, I can sort-of see the merit of it. It adds to the "event" factor, when it's done well. But even then, it's not necessary. It's a gimmick.
Which brings me to the other 3D product I tried out - the Nintendo 3DS.
What surprised me, was that the 3D actually worked. Basically, it's similar to a lenticular screen. You have to be about the right distance away, and if you lean off-axis too much, it doesn't work. There's a 3D slider which increases or decreases the effect. Unlike 3D HDTV, objects don't really appear to float over the device, but rather it's more like you're peering through a hole in it, and seeing a 3D diorama on the other side. For the game they had loaded - PilotWings Resort - the 3D really did give a sense of depth to the game, but more importantly, it gave a sense of distance. I think that's the critical distinction here. Being able to judge how far away something is in a non-stereoscopic 3D videogame has always been problematic. But here, it gives you a little extra bit of visual information that helps you play the game better.
Of course, how successfully they manage to implement this in other games is the big question. For games where distance isn't important, then yes, 3D is just another gimmick. But if they can create games where judging distance is part of the game, then 3D could become an integral element, and not just useless eye-candy.
As far as the 3DS itself goes, since it was bolted to a display stand it's a little hard to judge it. The analog thumb-stick seems better than the PSP's (it would be hard to make one that was worse), but the screen and buttons seemed tinier than I was expecting, and maybe I've been spoiled by the iPhone, but the resolution of the device was disappointing. The 3D effect was interesting though, and I can see some potential there. But I still left the store feeling it was just a gimmick - like a lenticular sticker you'd buy out of a gumball machine. Maybe interesting for a few minutes, but then the novelty wears off. And at $250... you could buy a lot of stickers for that price.
(After I got back from the store, I found an interesting write-up at IGN about the 3DS in this regard.)
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