With the news that Namco Bandai had purchased some 3D gaming API’s from RealD, the very real possibility of 3D games coming out of our video game spewing flat screen is now there, staring us in our faces.
Video games naturally have a love-hate relationship with cinema and the history of the industries parallel one another in more ways than one, while movies themselves (and later “talkies”) were considered fads and struggled to gain acceptance before being considered pieces of art, video games are still in the same boat.
That said (and there’s much to say in another editorial, another time) there’s still an intimate connection between films and video games when it comes to technology. Blu-ray has gained purchase with no small thanks to the Playstation 3 (however successful/unsuccessful as a video game system it may be) and our beautiful HD graphics and TVs are largely there because movies really wanted to get all that detail on the movie screen onto your home set.
Videophiles, those early adopters, those that live on the bleeding edge of display technology have a large part to play in Blu-ray and HD as well – if the early adopters don’t go for it in droves, it’s not likely to go mass market. Remember this, it’s important.
It should come as no surprise that the possibility of 3D gaming has a lot to do with the success of 3D movies, 3D Blu-ray and 3D TV sets are more important to the prospect of 3D gaming as the actual production of those 3D games.
That possibility and that success rest, currently at least, in the hands of James Cameron and James Cameron is considered a pretty good director and visionary.
His resume includes “Titanic,” “Aliens” and the good parts of the “Terminator” franchise. When a guy like that finally found that technology had come far enough to direct, produce and write a project he’d been trying to do since the early 90’s, you know it must be some kind of a great thing coming.
The project, “Avatar,” isn’t just James Cameron’s magnum opus, it could possibly usher in the acceptance of 3D as a real, legitimate display technology, both in the theatre and at home for one simple reason: Cameron filmed it all in 3D.
Earlier this year viewers got the very good, very 3D, “Coraline,” as well as some other treats including “Up,” from Disney-Pixar and the latest “Ice Age” movie as well. There are several set to release and a few other films that failed to grab most everyone’s attention too, “My Bloody Valentine 3D” was largely a disappointment.
So 3D is on the rise, it’s real and in proper color and the entire film is done that way. Whilst moviegoers seem pretty keen on it (if not the surcharge, which doesn’t disappear if you bring back the glasses), videophiles don’t seem quite as moved to see it on their home sets.
Mitsubishi and Samsung have been at the forefront of the 3D-capable TV front. Samsung has been showing up at almost every technology and trade show with their version, which, whilst impressive, still feels more disorienting and less enthralling than the version we see in theatres. Traditionally DLP sets, Samsungs B450 line integrates the technology into a plasma.
So why is “Avatar” so important at getting 3D into the your house?
The fact that it was captured and intended to be viewed that way is a massive step towards acceptance.
“As the director intended” is something videophiles strive for and have been searching for since the advent of the television. DVD and Blu-Ray were adopted because of it; Broadcom makes chips because of it. Denon and Marantz place half their business model around video for that very reason, so getting a 3D feature, by a major director in the door is a massive Trojan horse for 3D.
“Avatar” is undoubtedly going to be a visual feast, be it in 3D at the theatre or on Blu-Ray at home in the traditional sense. Making it a good movie, something worth buying a 3D capable set for, is something else.
“Avatar” could be the first in a series of movies that make 3D an integral part of the experience, not just a bonus that a few can see. When the director envisions the movie that way, it’s hard to ignore it as just another gimmick like many of the technologies being cramming into TV sets now.
3D-capable sets could increase in popularity with the general public with the family films coming to Blu-ray this winter and the more adult Cameron flick whenever he feels Blu-Ray is ready.
Hopefully there will be some popular acceptance by then because with that popular acceptance also comes cheaper and wider technology and perhaps, 3D games.
The real question of success of 3D on Blu-Ray rests in the hands of James Cameron and his pet project, which is released in December 18 from 20th Century Fox
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