PlayStation 4 in 3D
Will Sony's next system be coupled with 3D glasses?
by Chris Roper
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/943/943740p1.html
January 9, 2009 - CES 2009 is currently underway in Las Vegas, and while there are tons of home audio systems, DVD and Blu-ray players, touchscreen phones and other miscellaneous cool gadgets to be seen and played with, perhaps the biggest theme this year is 3D. Long gone are the days of the blue and red paper glasses, replaced with polarized lenses or even standalone displays that promise they can provide the effect without having to wear anything on your head.
3D is getting big in Hollywood as well, and fast. James Cameron has long been working on Avatar, a 3D-only film, and has said that all of his future work will be shot in 3D. At Sony's CES press conference this year, there were announcements that Toy Story 1 and 2 would be re-released in 3D, and a third film would be coming in the same form. Dreamworks announced that all of its future projects would be in 3D. The list goes on and on…
But that's not all. At Sony's booth, a handful of PlayStation 3 titles were running 3D demos, including WipEout HD, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. Our guys that have seen it say it's pretty amazing.
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http://gearmovies.ign.com/gear/video..._qtlowwide.mov
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A look at Sony's 3D demo for CES 2009.
Sony is keeping mum on exactly how these games are working, if they're just tech demos and not ever intended for release and so forth. For my part, it sounds to me like all three of these games will be patched with 3D viewing capabilities at some point in the future. And, it could also explain why we haven't seen Gran Turismo 5 proper yet - it could be that the game is meant to be played in 3D and we'll see it running as such at E3.
But what about other content? Will every (or even just some) PS3 games get a 3D viewing option? Could a firmware update bring the content to everyone? Maybe, maybe not. But it seems to me that it's likely that the PlayStation 4 will be built from the ground-up for 3D content, including Blu-ray discs for movies.
Don't try crossing your eyes.One of Sony's problems in the past, as a company on the whole, is that its bits and pieces haven't worked all that well together. For example, you can't download music to the PlayStation 3, which is a giant missed opportunity given Sony's large catalog of tunes. Movies took forever to get there, etc. etc. But the company is struggling (as are most these days), and a more cohesive approach to all of this would help things. It's one of the initiatives that Howard Stringer was pushing for when he took over a few years back, and things are getting better, with stuff like the XMB showing up in both its gaming devices and displays, and Blu-ray being a major focus for the company.
Releasing the PlayStation 4 with full-on 3D viewing capabilities would be a game-changing move, especially if the next Xbox and Nintendo systems don't follow suit. As mentioned, it apparently sounds amazing, which is obviously a good thing for Sony fans. But it would also give the PS4 that same sort of nifty catch that has gotten so many people to buy a Wii. Wiggling joysticks around is nothing compared to seeing objects jump out of the screen.
Included with every system?For the company as a whole, this would also give a bit boost to Sony Pictures Entertainment and the overall electronics division as bring 3D movies to our homes is obviously next on the to-do list for a lot of makers. It's going that way in the theaters, so you can bet it's going to wind up at home sooner than later.
At this point, I'd be willing to throw down $20 (I'm not a rich man) that the PlayStation 4 will be primarily a 3D viewing system. I'll honestly be somewhat disappointed if it's not.
