I wasn’t expecting the kind of immersion that I got from that demo. But these guys have studied how to use 3D and how it can enhance the gameplay experience and not hurt it. They’re setting a great example for the rest of the developers out there in terms of how to use 3D. I’ll give you another example from mainstream. I think that 3D will succeed as long as developers take the Avatar approach versus Clash of the Titans approach. James Cameron says that 3D was a very important part during production of Avatar. Everything was thought of in 3D. Whereas, if you watch Clash of the Titans, it was added on as an afterthought. And the difference is measurable.
I think the same applies to games. If you are thinking about how to use 3D to enhance the game player’s experience, you’re going to get something that’s much better than 2D. However, if you are just trying to throw it in at the last minute, it may not be as compelling as it could be.
Is it fair to assume that the next IP coming from you guys is going to have 3D in mind?
It depends. It just depends on whether or not we believe it’s going to make the game experience better.
Right. So, you’re saying it’s not a given. But, are you too far underway to get to that point? It seems like you would have had to make that decision early on.
Well there’s actually a difference, perhaps. There’s a difference between how people do it in movies and how we can do it in games. With games, I believe making 3D work effectively is a matter of just thinking the process through and making sure that you’re using 3D in the appropriate places. As opposed to, say, using it in movies where you have to film everything with two cameras.
Yeah.
In movies you have to plan ahead of time. Where, from the very first day of production, you’ve got stereoscopic cameras out there filming. Games, it’s a different paradigm all together, because we’re using virtual cameras, and we don’t have to worry as much about what they’ve worried about.
Everybody cites Avatar in terms that you got to shoot natively with stereoscopic equipment or else the algorithm on the back-end just doesn’t provide the same results.
Yeah. And in games, at whatever point you implement 3D, you just can’t slap it on. You’ve got to be thinking about how it effects, say, the combat scenarios and be careful not to make it annoying. Make sure that it enhances the gameplay experience. I’m not saying that this is a labor-intensive process, because it isn’t. I think Sony’s made it very clear that you can implement 3D pretty quickly. It’s just that you have to think about it to make sure that you’re doing it right.