Xbox Boss Not Keen on 3D

Peter Chapman 79 Comments

Phil Spencer, the Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios, has told CNN that he’s not convinced it’s a good time to market 3D gaming. The comments could be seen as a thinly-veiled stab at Sony’s recent drive to convince us all that we need to buy a new TV.

Spencer noted that the barrier to entry for gamers wishing to jump on the 3D bandwagon is possibly too high:

For better or for worse, people just don’t really have TVs in their house right now that are going to do 3D in a way that’s going to work

It’s difficult to disagree with him on that point but 3DTV uptake is slowly growing and Sony’s business is invested in much more than just games and the consoles that play them. This drive to a 3D future is much more about selling TVs than it is about selling games or even PlayStations.

One area where Spencer was not afraid to lavish praise was in the handheld market (where Microsoft Game Studios don’t compete, although the WinMo7 may change that). Apparently the Nintendo 3DS escapes his scorn because “you don’t have to wear the glasses”. Perhaps he just doesn’t like glasses.

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79 Comments

  1. First! Sony have a vested interest in pushing 3D. Microsoft don’t. Simple as that.

    • “First!” is generally discouraged around here. Just a quick word of warning.

    • Just a word of advice: don’t spam or you will face having points deducted or a ban.

      • How is it spam if he’s making a point about the article? Surely the first word doesn’t nullify the rest of the post!

      • Sorry, weren’t thinking.

      • Kroniks got a good point there.

      • Aye, knock the “First” bit on the head. No one likes that around here which is a good sign of maturity. The rest of the comment stands. It’s very much in Sony’s interest to make it work. However, that doesn’t mean it will. Time will tell on this push to get us to embrace 3D gaming/films/TV/etc.

  2. I dont like glasses.

    • I don’t mind glasses

      • I don’t like glasses.

      • The glasses half full… wait

      • I don’t mind glasses if it makes my vision better or able to see 3D games :-P

    • The glasses do suck. I’d rather have one of those smaller tv’s that don’t need the glasses than a phat one which needs them. 3D is the future, but only when we lose the glasses.

      Speaking of which, can you get the 3D tech built into a pair of subscription lenses? Similar to how you can get tinted subscription glasses for when it’s sunny?

  3. It isn’t a great time to throw money at it unless you have a warehouse full of TV to sell.

    If you throw millions of R&D at it, you’re not going to get it back as only .000000001% of TVs are capable of benefiting from whatever you develop.

    So unless you’re a manufacturer of the TVs you’re obviously better off investing elsewhere

  4. Yes, let’s focus on an expensive, broken motion sensor instead :)

    • Ohh that’s got to hurt .good comment 3shirts.

    • ouch, below the belt boyo!

    • Ouch! That would have hurted.

    • 3shirts 1 Mircosoft 0

    • Or let’s focus on how much money we can squeeze out of XBOX users. Raise the annual fee for starters.

      • And charge for online use for everyone.And spend Half a billion advertising a broken motion controller.

      • Took longer than I expected for the MS bashing to start. Good to see that you guys don’t take a day off.

      • We’re are only having a laugh, lighten up

  5. Can the 360 even support 3D??

    • yes

    • Yes, the PS3 has some advantages at displaying 2 x 720p images, but the 360 has other advantages and through a workaround can actually display higher res 3D than the PS3 thanks to its on-board buffer.

      It is also said that the 360’s current advantages on multi-platform engine’s will lead to an increased performance gap as framerate problems, lack of texture detail and torn frames are made worse on the PS3 by the move to 3D, so it will probably down to 1st party titles to lead the way again.

      • Sounds interesting cc, can you link to were you read that I’d be interested in boning up on some on some of the technical limitations of 3D with the two consoles.

        So far the only game that has ne excites for 3D is GT5

  6. He’s right, though. There is very little public momentum behind 3D at the moment. If it doesn’t build enough steam it’s going to fail.

    • With the way the prices are tumbling and the overall 3DHDTV Packages are becoming more and more attractive, I think that the interest is bigger then we think.

      I mean the minute KZ3 drops I will defintely be investing a 3D Set up, no doubt.

      I think its a case of people waiting it out until the prices are much more reasonable….

      I have seen a 42 inch Samsung 1080p FULL HD 3D TV with 3 sets of GOOGLES and a Blu Ray Player for a GRAND!

      Thats not bad at all……

      I am sure theyll be better quality/more competitively priced when the almighty KZ3 drops and the festive period has passed….

      • You got a 42inch full HD tv with 3d and a blu-ray player for a thousand quid? Where the hell did you get it????

      • Yes, share the love please.

      • It was in Currys in Leeds. I saw a simalar deal in Tescos although the TV was slightly smaller.

        I have since come across this deal – http://www.portal.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/10/20/samsung-offers-820-3d-tv-blu-ray-combo/

        They are becoming much more accessable for people now…..

      • Interesting. That deal you showed is from a website that exports to Ireland. Might snag myself a bargain there.

      • Wow, 3 sets of GOOGLES?! I wonder what I should search for first :)

      • Search for google google’s google just to see if it goes into an infinite loop.

        That or goggles. Nah.

      • I got a Samsung 50″ from currys £999 to the door with a free Blu-ray 3D player and 3 pairs of glasses. Plus if you register the TV at Samsungconnect.co.uk you get another pair FREE. 4 glasses free :)

        Tell ‘EVERYONE’ and future proof yourselfs

      • I always call GOGGLES – GOOGLES.

        Glasses are also under the same unbrella in my mind and therefore they are also classed as GOOGLES to me ha ha ha

        **walks away with head hung in shame**

      • The fact that Sky are pushing 3D TV fairly hard is a good thing for Sony as well. With the hardware prices dropping (seemingly) quickly, I can see it catching on to be honest.

    • No Steam is something different. This is Microsoft.
      :P

      • MS,The kings of bs. :P

      • @solidsteven I refer you to your first comment (of too many):
        “Just a word of advice: don’t spam or you will face having points deducted or a ban.”

  7. I don’t get this argument with the glasses thing. Obviously it would be better without but still millions of people use glasses every day and all day. It’s not that big of a deal.

    • People use glasses because they need to see and might not like contact lenses. We don’t need to see 3D images from our displays.

      • People also use sunglasses either to block the sun or just to look cool. Point is that it isn’t a big deal to wear glasses. The “need” to see 3D depends on who you are though. There isn’t much that you “need” to do. You don’t really “need” to watch tv do you? ;-)

      • Fair points, gov :) Perhaps 3D glasses need to be smaller. Aren’t they tethered by a power / optical wire too? I don’t know, they just seem a bit clunky at present.

      • Tethered? Oh yes, that’s right you actually need a small diesel generator plugged into each one in order to use. :/

        Misinformation is misinformed.

      • Silly me. Should have thought before I posted. Just occurred to me that that the image is not projected inside the glasses so no need for power / optical wires. I’m sure I saw a recent vid of someone using 3D glasses which had a wire coming off of it… must be dreaming. *returns to padded cell*

  8. ‘Xbox boss not keen on electricity, passing fad says VIP!’

    • ‘Xbox boss not keen on colour, black and white is the future says VP!’

      • “Oxygen overrated” says blue-faced xbox boss

      • @ 3shirts…you bastard that made me spit my beer!!

    • Xbox boss caught with 3d tv, BS says vip!

  9. 3D will be standard feature built into every TV in the next few years.
    Like any new technology 12-18 months down the line its half the price.

  10. Typical Microsoft – they won’t like it until the Xbox 3 has it as a launch feature and they will go on about how great it is!

    This Microsoft that didn’t think there was a need for HDMI, or more space than a single DVD, or internal storage as standard, or motion gaming, or avatars, or non-game related features/services, etc etc. In short never believe what these guys say – it’s just code for “Microsoft aren’t in a position to announce this as a formal Xbox feature yet”.

    If it was left up to Microsoft the time would never be right for anything beyond annual Call of Duty, Madden and Halo releases. They are masters of sitting back and waiting to see.

    • No if it was left up to mircosoft we would all have xboxes and kinnect. lol :p

    • Along with a lot of people, MS are utterly unconvinced by 3D which is sound thinking for now. I’m not even a fan or supporter of MS but can see that there’s logic in their thinking (for this article).

      They still have more units sold than the PS3 and are hardly the innovators in the industry. However, if there’s money to be made they’ll be there.

    • Wow, could you be any more bias? Please show where MS ever knocked motion gaming, avatars or non gaming features. And then explain the connection to MS and CoD & Madden. Pretty sure those are PS3 games as well and pretty sure they are just as valuable to Sony as they are MS.

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