Sony’s Mick Hocking Talks PS3 3D
Not just a summer fling.Published: 8:30, 29/07/2010 by Josh [JoshHood].
37With the PS3′s 3D gaming update now out in the open, and the first 3D gaming content and compatible televisions available, Sony’s 3D push is well underway. PlayStation LifeStyle had a chance to speak to Mick Hocking (the director of Sony’s internal 3D team, as well as a senior director for SCEE, looking after Evolution, Liverpool, and BigBig Studios) about how things were going.
He started by noting that Sony aren’t too worried about slow uptake of 3D media, and are supporting the format for the long-haul: “This year is really the start of home entertainment in 3D and you’ll see it rapidly grow in the next few years, as the 3D TVs get out there and the 3D Blu-Ray players, like PlayStation 3.”
He also talked about Sony’s attempts to push developers to work with high-quality 3D, saying that whilst they “can’t actively stop someone making a bad 3D game”, they are trying to teach developers the best methods to implement the technology so that games fulfil their 3D potential.
Asked about the potential competitive edge for players with the best technology, Hocking revealed that Sony were following developments very closely: “It’s a very interesting point; it’s interesting to think that if I’m playing multiplayer and I’ve got a 3D TV and I get a better score than my opponents playing in 2D then what’s gonna happen then? Do I have an unfair advantage?”
And on the topic of user-generated content not designed for 3D use, he said that whilst Sony has a 3D-enabled prototype of LittleBigPlanet, there are currently no plans for a compatible entry into the series, although it is possible: “LittleBigPlanet, if they convert to 3D in the future, has a limited amount of depth in the scenes in the game, so it would work beautifully.”
Hocking dismissed fears about the health implications of extended 3D sessions, saying that it’s the same as current viewer advice of ‘don’t sit too near the screen’, or ‘take regular breaks’, and confirmed that whilst it is easier for developers to work with 3D in mind from the start, it can be implemented later with surprising ease: “We have found that the teams can get the games in 3D in a fairly short time if they want to. Typically, once you put the 3D TV in the studio with some of the latest 3D games on it, they get inspired – you know what engineers are like, they can pretty much do anything as long as you get them inspired to do it.”
Although he did not confirm dates for the 3D movies and photos patches for the PS3 (the 3D photo viewer will support the MPO format though, apparently an “agreed 3D photo format”), and remained coy on the company’s plans for a 3D PSP (“I can’t comment on any future plans for portables at this time… I can say that 3D can be very effective on portable devices and with the small screen size a number of auto-stereoscopic, that is glasses-free, techniques can be used.”), Hocking did reveal that the upcoming MotorStorm Apocalypse and Killzone 3 offer in his opinion the best 3D experiences.
“With Killzone I think the 3D really helps bring the player into the battle, you almost duck out of the way when enemy ordinance flies past you, or the shrapnel from an explosion. In the new game the use of jet-packs is huge fun combined with 3D, you get an immense sense of vertigo looking down through your feet at the action below, or even something simple like when you pull a comrade our of a trench, there’s this real sense of depth, of having to reach down and help your comrade up to safety.”
Hmmm, maybe I’ll have to look into a 3DTV after all.
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29/07/2010 at 08:56
Member since: Aug 2008
I want a 3d TV big time,jst other things need the money at the moment :(
Glad to hear that its not really had to add 3d to games,just hope they don’t churn out rubbish 3d just for the box spec
29/07/2010 at 09:06
Member since: Oct 2008
I need to justify the amount I spent on my LCD TV first before I can get another 3D one.
29/07/2010 at 09:03
Member since: Jul 2010
I’m hoping to pull an ace performance out if the bag at the BetaRooms wvent and bag me a 3D TV. :-)
29/07/2010 at 09:16
Member since: Dec 2008
Just had a thought as I was reading this, Portal 3D would be amazing, the change in depth through the portals could really work!
29/07/2010 at 11:34
Member since: Dec 2009
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/07/28/valve-mentions-portal-3-tsa-cries/
30/07/2010 at 13:15
Member since: May 2009
There was a device at E3 that made the PSP screen look 3D.
29/07/2010 at 09:16
Member since: Jun 2009
not convinced at all, sorry. You know what will happen, the same thing that happened with films. Games made for 2d, then converted and looking shit. It will happen, whatever people say, and it just wont help with pushing 3d for the long haul.
29/07/2010 at 09:43
Member since: Dec 2008
I disagree, with films, they have to insert 3D information to a 2D medium, whereas with games, they already have access to all the 3D information being supplied by the engine, so I don’t think the two are comparable.
29/07/2010 at 11:09
Member since: Aug 2008
Older films (the relatively early) ones yes, newer ones, no, they use a twin-lens camera, or have two virtual ones in animations.
29/07/2010 at 11:10
Member since: Jun 2009
Toy Story 3 wasn’t impressive though. It didn’t make the film any better than what it would of been in 2d HD.
29/07/2010 at 11:12
Member since: Forever
It’s a story driven film, why would it be better?
29/07/2010 at 11:33
Member since: Jun 2009
because it’s in 3D. Isn’t it meant to give you a better experience? Thats why you pay more for the tickets.
29/07/2010 at 11:36
Member since: Forever
i think that’s a bit of misnomer, action led titles will probably benefit from real 3D as they draw you further into the action, but a story driven title? i wouldn’t bother
And I urge everyone to never bother with paying extra to see a film where 3d was added in post-processing, the more people see them the more they’ll make and not bother with the more expensive real 3D
29/07/2010 at 09:21
Member since: Jul 2010
But films MADE for 3D are amazing? Avatar and How to Train your Dragon especially.
29/07/2010 at 09:24
Member since: Jun 2009
Avatar was the best, anything else that I have seen has been “meh” in my opinion. I’ve seen Avatar, Toy Story 1/2 (converted) Toy Story 3, How to Train your Dragon, Christmas Carol, Clash of The Titans (converted). I might of seen more but the ones that made me wow was just Avatar, and that was probably because it was the first 3d film I’ve seen since I was about 10 or something. None of them impressed me, and Clash of the Titans I actually walked out of.
29/07/2010 at 09:35
Member since: Jul 2010
“they are trying to teach developers the best methods to implement the technology so that games fulfil their 3D potential.”
Devs still dont know how to use the ps3 to its fullest potential. So give it a couple more years i say before we start to truly see some beautiful works of art (not that the alpha of K3 isnt already beautiful) :)
29/07/2010 at 10:30
Member since: Dec 2009
Hang on, i thought they said glasses-free tech wasn’t good enough – now it can be used for handhelds ok.. ooh worried about the 3DS much?.. :)
29/07/2010 at 11:13
Member since: Aug 2008
It’s because Auto-stereoscopic is good for single player use (as you do with handhelds) but for the living room when you have many people, glasses is the only way to go.
29/07/2010 at 23:19
Member since: Dec 2009
Ah, i see.
29/07/2010 at 11:13
Member since: Sep 2009
Not at all – it makes perfect sense, currently auto-stereoscopic 3D look crap at large sizes and only works for 1 person at a time as you need to stand perfectly central to the screen. There is currently no commerically available auto-stereoscopic technology that would work in a home TV environment.
However with a portable device you use a small screen on your own that you look at perfectly centred to the screen – in other words perfect for auto-stereoscopic 3D. 3D mobile phones, 3D cameras & photoframes, 3D camcorders etc etc will all no doubt use auto-stereoscopic as standard on their small displays, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t come home and don your 3D glasses to watch the TV…
Sony have never dismissed auto-stereoscopic 3D, just stated quite rightly that it isn’t practical for home TV & large-screen/cinema viewing yet.
29/07/2010 at 23:20
Member since: Dec 2009
I stand corrected :)
29/07/2010 at 11:00
Member since: Sep 2009
I got to see Motorstorm in 3D at a Sony Centre and the results were truly incredible. The ability to have spacial awareness between the vehicles really added to the experience, it also helped give an extra sense of weight and size between the monster truck and a smaller vehicles. I was ready to buy a 3DTV on the strength of that demo alone, unfortunately the £2200 for the TV and the £100 per pair of glasses made me think twice! Still when the prices come down I will be very tempted…
I think it would be awesome on a projector screen though, given 3D is an ‘event’ format that you wouldn’t really use all the time it would work to have a 2D TV and a 3D projector that you pull down when needed. That is the ultimate setup for any Living Room – 40″+ HDTV for day to day with an 80″+ screen for 3D movies and gaming! I’d be more willing to pay £2K on a projector and keep my relatively new HDTV, rather than spend £2K to replace a TV that doesn’t really need replacing yet…
29/07/2010 at 11:15
Member since: Forever
Samsung 3DTVs start from about £800, this price will only get less with each passing quarter… i don’t really know where this £2k figure comes from people keep quoting, but yes I’m far more interested in a projector than a TV, but if I ever get a motion setup or a PS4 includes one as standard then where will I mount my camera and/or other sensors?
29/07/2010 at 11:20
Member since: Aug 2008
Sony ones start from £1,800 +£200 for a 3D bundle, which gets you a free PS3 or 3DBDP, so that’s where :).
It’s the ones who quote £5k+, I don’t get.
29/07/2010 at 11:35
Member since: Jun 2009
cc-star, where are those TV’s, I wouldn’t mind checking them out in the shop to see what they are like compared to Sonys.
29/07/2010 at 11:18
Member since: Aug 2008
I’d like to randomly add a quote in from the 3D breakfast briefing I attended.
“3D is easy, Good 3D is hard” spoken by John White, Director of Sony Professional.
29/07/2010 at 12:07
Member since: Jul 2009
This year is really the start of home entertainment in 3D and you’ll see it rapidly grow in the next few years, as the 3D TVs get out there and the 3D Blu-Ray players, like PlayStation 3.
That’s delightfully twisted. Japan is looking to 3DTV penetration in the market of around 11% by start of 2012, I believe. So not rapid. Not rapid at all.