I have never played a game in 3D or even watched one, so I don't know how it affects the experience, but seeing Sony and Nintendo push 3D is a bit annoying to me in some ways, but especially Sony. I understand that with the 3DS they needed something to distinguish it from the DSI and regular DS, and honestly the prospect of glasses-free 3D does sound exciting, especially since the system will likely be cheap and affordable, which means the cost of admission is quite low. But what I've got to ask, is whether or not 3D will actually make gaming more enjoyable to the point that it's worth cutting the horizontal resolution in half. Will this be something that changes the way I play games, or will I find myself wanting to turn the feature off after a while and then just play around with it occasionally, like when I get a new game or I want to show it off to a friend?
With the PS3, it gets worse. In order to even see what a PS3 game looks like in 3D, you have to buy a ridiculously expensive 3D television. That is what you can an investment with limited returns. If it turns out that 3D is just a gimmick, well, you'll still have a nice TV, but you will have spent way more money on it than you should have. A 3D TV that's the same size as one that costs $600 will end up costing you like $2,000 or more, which is a pretty high price to pay considering how limited the options are for viewing 3D content. And on top of that, you have to wear 3D glasses. 3D glasses are inconvinient, expensive, and make the picture quality crappier since 1) they don't work perfectly and 2) they make everything darker. Even with the glasses and expense forgiven, you come back to the same problem as the 3DS: is this a feature that will fundamentally change the way I look at gaming, or is it just a gimmick that I'll want to play with occasionally? And the fact is, with the 3DS it's a $200 dollar gimmick (most likely), while with the PS3 it's a gimmick that will cost as much as your first car.
I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but I've always been skeptical as to whether or not 3D is here to stay. It's always come and gone as a fad every decade or so since the 1950's, and I honestly don't see what's different this time. Yeah, the quality of 3D has improved tremendously, but the fact is that I get just as much out of watching a movie in 2D as I can watching it in 3D, and for less money. Sony and Nintendo have a lot to prove if they want to convince me that 3D is not going to start disappearing in the next few years just like it always does.
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