“You’ve never seen the game like that,” he told them.
But while there are big names backing the new technology, plenty of people remain unconvinced regarding long-term prospects for 3D in the home. Marie Bloomfield, an analyst with Screen Digest, said the development of 3D gaming and TV is trapped in a no man’s land.
“The home 3D market is in a catch-22 situation,” she commented in a recent report on the subject. “Consumers will not be persuaded to invest in new equipment to experience 3D until there is enough content, and content production will not ramp up until there is a significant audience.”
It will be tough to convince cash-strapped consumers who have already been inundated with a number of “must-have” TV technologies in recent years to buy into a 3D system. Broadly popular systems such as digital broadcasting, HD and digital video recorders have required new hardware and significant investment from buyers — not to mention the host of extras offered by manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, LG and Phillips.
Aren’t people going to get turned off the idea of having to splash out yet again?
Andrew Oliver says that millions of people have, in fact, already bought 3D TV sets but they don’t realize it because the manufacturers don’t market the capability, as nobody uses it right now.
“You can’t sell it because there’s no 3D content out there,” he says. “The manufacturers realize that 3D movies are being made. It’ll be a little while before they sort themselves out, but we’ll get on with making the games.”
In the meantime, he says, encouraging the games industry to take up the technology could be the best way to get it into people’s homes — providing an outlet for a new technology, just as the Xbox and PlayStation 3 proved to be a way to get people watching HD.
“Gamers are the first adopters of this technology. They don’t mind wearing glasses at first, and to get a cool experience like this they think it’s well worth it. It’s an easy sell to a gamer,” he said.
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