3D, or not 3D? That is the question... Well I guess not. Nintendo has announced the next iteration of the 3DS and it is... well, without the 3D feature. They say so that they can market better to the under 7 kids crowd, but I suspect they are quietly backing away from 3D, though I don't understand why as Nintendo 3DS has been a smash success despite all the 3D Hatrz.
When 3D first came around I was dismissive of it. Everyone was telling me to go see Avatar because it’s 3D was said to be so fantastic. I didn’t because I never could see the illusion with the red/cyan glasses. I had assumed I was one of those who wouldn’t be able to see the illusion. Eventually my wife, a 3D fanatic, convinced me to go see Clash of the Titans in 3D… Bad idea. Then she wanted to see The Last Airbender in 3D… even worse. I had ruled out 3D as viable, dismissed it as a gimmick. Still, one more movie, she said, give it one more try… Toy Story 3. It worked! I could see the illusion! I was drawn into the adorable Disney movie like I had never been drawn into a film before! Sure, there wasn’t much pop out, but I felt as if there was only a window separating me from the world of Toy Story. Then we went and saw it’s predecessors, lovingly converted to 3D, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Thor, Captain America, Avengers…
When 3D first came around I was dismissive of it. Everyone was telling me to go see Avatar because it’s 3D was said to be so fantastic. I didn’t because I never could see the illusion with the red/cyan glasses. I had assumed I was one of those who wouldn’t be able to see the illusion. Eventually my wife, a 3D fanatic, convinced me to go see Clash of the Titans in 3D… Bad idea. Then she wanted to see The Last Airbender in 3D… even worse. I had ruled out 3D as viable, dismissed it as a gimmick. Still, one more movie, she said, give it one more try… Toy Story 3. It worked! I could see the illusion! I was drawn into the adorable Disney movie like I had never been drawn into a film before! Sure, there wasn’t much pop out, but I felt as if there was only a window separating me from the world of Toy Story. Then we went and saw it’s predecessors, lovingly converted to 3D, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Thor, Captain America, Avengers…
Over the course of
this time I had bought a 3DS, and it was there I saw the real power of 3D.
Movies were great, but video games were brought to life like never before. Soon
after I had to have a 3D TV. We bought a Vizio, but it wasn’t big enough so we
bought an LG, neither one cost more than $700 by the way, the larger of the two
being 55”. When 3D works, it’s wonderful.
Nintendo has also fashioned
a number of games that really make great use of the effect, lasers and monsters
pop right off the screen at you in Kid Icarus, Mario has to solve dimensionally
sensitive labyrinths that would be frustrating as hell in 2D, Link will have to
make use of depth to solve puzzles in the upcoming A Link Between Worlds. But
on the Xbox 360 I got to experience Halo in a way I never had before, aiming in
3D presents a new level of accuracy, I was finally hitting my damn target! Call
of Duty Black Ops on PS3 delighted me when the villain put his face directly in
mine at the end of the first level to taunt me, well, he wasn’t actually there,
but the way he came off the screen with such menace… It elevated the experience
in a way that playing it in 2D just couldn’t.
Sony then upped the
anti by allowing for re-releases of some older games in HD and 3D. There is
nothing like the sense of vertigo staring down the back of the colossi in
Shadow of the Colossus, and Prince of Persia? Suddenly I could obviously tell
which jumps would be fatal. No longer would it be leap, pray to God you make
it, die, rewind, repeat. In 3D, I could approach the edge of a cliff and not
only know I can’t make the jump, but clearly see the climbable protrusions that
will get me around the chasm. As you can
tell, 3D has totally changed gaming for me, which is why I was so disheartened
to see Sony back away from it, and now Nintendo seems to be with the 2DS…
There’s a lot that
went wrong in the marketing of 3D. Clash of the Titans was a massive blow to
the format, and it was, sadly, one of many that did a quick, cheap conversion
hoping to cash in on the latest trend. There have been few who would stick their necks out risking the ire of the Hatrz to defend the format like James Cameron has, and I tend to agree with him, I think 3D will be the dominant format
someday. People doubted sound, they doubted color, but whereas those technologies persevered the Hatrz have done such a great job an their anti-marketing campaign that, combined with the early blunders of the market, it will take a re-launch of the technology to change the format's fortunes. I had been counting
on Nintendo to be there when that re-launch comes. I had the guy behind the
counter at Gamestop lament, “you know, if they had done 3D as well when they
introduced it as they’re doing it now, it’d have been a hit.” (I was whining
that the feature was pulled from Tales of Xillia.) Maybe he’s right, but the
3DS is doing strong numbers, so I am not sure I understand fully why the 2DS is
needed now, especially when perceptions are everything in marketing. What is Nintendo really saying about 3D, let alone the 3DS? Are they admitting defeat amongst strong sales? Are they doing what Sony has done with the PS3/4 and abandoning the fans who, despite their hesitation, went along for the ride and tried something new? Those who invested their hard earned dollars in a new technology when everyone else was calling it a headache enduing gimmick?
What is needed is for those industrialists who, along with my wife,
worked so hard to convince me that I HAD to have all these 3D gizmos to stand
behind their products. Sure, include the option for 2D for the Hatrz, but don’t
abandon me and other 3D adaptors, or punish us for believing in you. We all
have friends, we all have family. Seldom does a movie night in my family go by
without the use of 3D glasses somewhere in the home, and the kids in the family
are 3D enthusiasts ever if ever saw them.
I just wish that
instead of quietly backing away from 3D the mega studios (I’m looking at you Sony)
would respect those who did go on this adventure with them enough to not give
up on us. We may only be a niche market, but we still exist, and if Nintendo
and everyone else would just continue to include the option, that market will
grow. After all, there was a time when the only folks who bought Blu Rays were people who owned a PS3, it took time for that market to expand…
Yet Sony stuck it out for that technology.
It’s not all bad on the 3D front
either, despite the fact that 3DTVs have not done huge numbers, 3D Blu Rays
sell rather well, Dredd 3D was January 2013’s biggest Blu Ray title and why do
you suppose that is? Well, because most folks are probably like my friends and
family, they plan to upgrade later when prices come down, and as many passive
3D TVs have hit the clearance racks a rather sizable number of my friends have. True that 3D isn’t the
must have feature, but many people still think it’s a feature that’s nice to
have, and on the day they can have it without feeling like they have to pay
extra for it 3D will dominate. Like with sound, like with color, the support will come, it is a seed that just needs water. Water the plant, even though the Hatrz are begging for you to kill it, I am begging for you to water it instead. It will grow with time.
In the meantime the
Hatrz can complain all they want about having to wear a ten ounce pair of
plastic glasses, at they same time they hypocritically cannot wait for the 20
lbs behemoth Oculus Rift. I find that funny, but will probably stand in line
when Oculus Rift becomes available at a mass market price, hoping I can get my
3D fix somehow…
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