When it came to the idea of 3D gaming, Sony was implicit but never explicit. During his keynote, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer showed attendees a still from Gran Turismo 5, rendered in 3D. "You've never seen the game like that," he claimed.
But there was no solid strategy laid out for 3D gaming. On Sony’s show floor at CES, a selection of games had been demonstrated on the firm's 3D Bravia displays. Racing games, such as MotorStorm, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Wipeout HD, were used as examples of how 3D technology can be used to enhance the gameplay experience, with Sony representatives explaining that driving games in particular can benefit from an enhanced level of depth perception.
The promise shown was somewhat curbed by Sony’s reluctance to reveal anything about the technology behind the demonstrations. Sony wouldn't say how the 3D impression was achieved; "don't get caught up with specs," a Sony representative told ArsTechnica "We're not going to talk about specifications. This is just a look at what 3D could look like if Sony decided to move in this direction."
These games were unplayable on the show floor, though there are reports that Sony has playable versions ready to be sampled.
Sony’s allusions to 3D gaming were certainly not as unequivocal as the company’s push for 3D movies. Back at the press conference, John Lasseter – chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios – claimed that Pixar is already working on 3D movies for the Blu-ray format, while the group is remastering both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D for cinema releases during the summer.
Source: Gamespot, ArsTechnica, Kotaku.
Image courtesy of Ars Technica.
