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When did 3D become such a big deal? (And when did Nintendojo become so topical!? …wait a minute…) Even though the 3DS is quickly approaching its first birthday on the market, the endless parroting about how 3D “really improves the gaming experience!” is really starting to get old. This week’s apathetic example comes courtesy of Resident Evil Revelations. I mean come on guys, we get it. Shush. (If it’s any consolation, we thought Revelations wasn’t half bad. Just let the product speak for itself next time!)
And while Nintendo aren’t the only ones to blame for this kind of guiltless self-promotion (we’re looking at you, Hollywood, no one cares about Titanic 3D) it begs the question: who actually cares about 3D? Who actually uses the 3D function on 3DS or other consoles or in the cinema? Do you feel like 3D has added to the game experience or merely been a sidestep on the path to greater innovation? When will this seemingly-never-ending list of rhetorical questions wrap up so you can just answer the poll?
This week we ask your thoughts on 3D. Fancy getting on your (three dimensional) soap box? (How else would you stand on it? LOL- Ed.) Then be sure to voice your multi-spacial thoughts in the comments’ section below. It’s like TRON, down there. Just… low-key.
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The problem with 3D (especially the 3DS itself) is that it’s still young, and it’s the most complex visual advancement since the introduction of sound (which it also took them a long time to get right). There are kinks and glitches, and once they are ironed out, 3D will become a standard, just like color and HD. It’s not a gimmick. Like Katharine said in the Super Mario 3D Land preview, “it’s certainly got potential– when it gets the 3D right, it really gets it right– but…those moments [are] few and far between…” As for me, I would use the 3D camera a lot more, if I could share me photos. Unfortunately, I can’t post them on a 3DS channel of some sort (which I’ve written Nintendo about more than once), so if I want to share them online, it has to be in 2D, or I have to pass my 3DS around physically. How stupid is that? And I don’t see how the camcorder’s going to change anything. You can definitely see a difference between the 3D and 2D in the games, so I play with 3D on. It’s not spectacular (any more than HD is better than SD), but it is an improvement. But it’s just depth, 90% of the time. We’re still waiting for that fall-in-your-lap, poke-your-eye-out 3D. Those moments are rare.
To me, games going 3D is exactly like film’s jump to color or gaming’s previous move from two to four-plus buttons. It’s optional, it doesn’t change the world, but it adds detail and substance to what’s already there.
I look forward to the day when the 3D equivalent of Eternal Darkness or Ico comes along and makes its own rules about the new medium, subverts expectations and gives us something truly new, but in the meantime I’m having plenty of fun with traditional games doing what they do best but in shiny fancy 3D.
Hear, hear!