3D impressions

Immersion means everything to me.

When I consume media, I become very immersed. So much, in fact, that it bothers me to no end to be interrupted while I’m “zoned in”, because it sometimes takes time to get back to that mental place again. It is when I’m at most immersed in movies, books, games, series when the story (obviously) affects me the most, which – I guess – is why I enjoy being in that state of mind so much. One could even say that the primary reason I consume some form of media, is for that special sense of immersion.

I was recently walking by my local TV dealer when I suddenly realized I was in the mood to randomly complain about something; so I decided to go in to the store and complain about the 3D hype. I’ve been somewhat of a 3D TV skeptic for quite a while, for several reasons. One of which is that 3D gaming with shutter glasses has been attempted before, and it failed (as in never catching on).  Also, I couldn’t imagine that we need more 3D:ness than the games already achieve through creative use of traditional graphics. Concerning the latest incarnation of the 3D hype; I’ve been completely uninterested in it, especially after the Avatar hype; over-hyping things tends to make me lose interest in them. I sometimes feel that if something is too hyped, it means there’s a well oiled PR machine behind it, which means that someone feels it can’t catch on using its own technical merits, which in turn is reason to be skeptical about it.

I asked the proprietor of the TV store if he had a 3D TV set up as well as some 3D material to demo — and he did; some rendered 3D movie. I took a quick look, preparing to find things to complain about, but I was immediately taken aback a little. The visual effect was quite stunning. I especially remember an outdoors scene where it was snowing, and the snow looked so realistic that I completely forgot about my earlier whim to complain about something.

I did eventually find some details to complain about, but these were completely drowned by the “Wow!”:ness I was experiencing.

What entered my mind at this point was that I had Stardust HD, PAIN and Wipeout HD on my PS3 at home; three of the four, then available, 3D-enabled PSN games.  I asked the owner of the store if he would mind if brought my PS3 there and plugged it in to their 3D TV to try it out with some games. Not only was it okay, he even thought it was a neat idea, since he himself had only seen that one movie they had and was quite impressed by it.

After a quick walk home and updating the three games to the latest versions (specifically for the 3D support), I went back to the store and hooked my PS3 up to their gear. In the back of my mind, I had some fuzzy memory of having read that Wipeout HD was somewhat of an extraordinary experience in 3D, so I decided to try it out last.

First up was Stardust HD. As soon as I had started it up, and saw the 3D effects, I knew that I would be getting a 3D TV at some point in the future.  The 3D effect was beautiful. This particular game has always been good at delivering a good 3D feel anyway, so it was quite fascinating to me to see how much of an improvement it was when using the 3D capabilities of the TV. I played this only for a little while, partly because I started enjoying losing ships (because of the wonderful effect of debris flying at me), but also because – after what I had just seen – I was getting even more curious about Wipeout HD.

Next, I tried PAIN. It too was really neat, and it’s inherently a very 3D friendly game due to its design and concept. But the most enjoyable experience was probably the reaction of the proprietor of the store. He commented (paraphrasing) “What a .. special game. There’s obviously a point where someone has an idea and thinks ‘We should do this!’. But what surprises me is that someone actually finally okay’d the project.”. PAIN is a pretty strange game; you have to wonder exactly what drugs started it all. Though the extreme strangeness doesn’t bother me; on the contrary, I enjoy it a lot, and it looks very neat in 3D. It perhaps wasn’t a deal-maker to me like Stardust HD was, but it definitely increased the “must have 3D!”-feeling that had been awoken minutes eariler.

And finally, I tried Wipeout HD. This was truly an extraordinary experience. Everything looked great, and the sense of immersion I got was fantastic. The race hadn’t even started when I realized that I wasn’t going to get a 3D TV “sometime in the future”; I was getting it as soon as possible. It really was that good. Wipeout HD is a beautiful game even without the 3D support, but the 3D took things to a whole new level. It wasn’t just the “overall sense of realism”, but I can point to specific details which made it out of the ordinary. One of those interesting details I noted pretty quickly was how much the shadows did for the sense of realism. Without the 3D, I expect there to be a shadow, because it’s what they put in games nowadays. But with the 3D, I absolutely expected there to be a shadow, because it would look wrong otherwise. I know developers work on developing new and better ways to create shadow-like effect, but I haven’t seen anyone manage to get anything looking this good before; not because the methods used in Wipeout HD are better than anyone else’s, but simply because in the context of 3D, the shadows do so much more. This is obviously just one example of several, but even if one doesn’t try to deconstruct it, the overall experience really is enough to leave you wanting more.

If these games are merely an appetizer, and we can expect things to get even better from now on as developers develop and exploit new 3D techniques, then we have a very interesting future of gaming ahead of us.

So, is 3D merely a set of cooler effects, or does it deliver more than a vague feeling of a Z-axis? Well, that depends. It’s subjective; even the manual for the TV I ordered states/warns that 3D effect is a subjective experience. I’ve read that some people can’t even “see” the 3D effect, even though both their eyes work perfectly. Others see the 3D effect, but can’t get any sense of “realism” from it. I belong to the group of people to whom 3D is like an injection of an insane amount of immersion straight into the pleasure center of the brain. Okay, so that doesn’t make any physiological or neurological sense, but you get the gist. Gaming will never be the same to me again. I’m certain that I sooner or later will start to weigh in 3D support into my priorities on which games to buy next.

When Sony say that 3D is the future of gaming, I believe them. At least if my reaction is anything even close to the norm and a sufficient number of people try it out, it will be what everyone will be using in the somewhat near future. Perhaps not in the current form, using the somewhat old shutter technique with the unconfortable “one model built to fit everyone” SciFi:esque glasses. But there will be some form of 3D, which may even transform our TV’s like color-TV did.

I have two special wishes concerning 3D gaming. Two game series which easily get me in to that “zone of immersion”, which I love so much, in a way that no other game has come close to in recent years: The Uncharted series and Killzone 2.

The Uncharted games are simply stunning from the beginning to the end; it is the games which has given me the most sense of immersion, bar none. I keep imagining the djungle scenes, the u-boat chapter, all the platforming; how extraordinary they are already now, and how incredible they would be in 3D.

While most of the storytelling (cutscenes) in Killzone 2 where quite uninteresting (in fact, I’ve decided to write a separate piece on the voice and character acting in games because of this thought; I’ll get back to that later), the battles themselves are really intense, a worthy contender for the list of “must experience”-games of all time. As the BBC put it: “Sat (sic) down in front of a playable level it is immediately clear that Killzone 2 will be one of the most cinematic and immersive games ever produced on a console.” (Source). Now add 3D to that.

If I could have any of these games in 3D, I would be the happiest camper ever.

As it turns out, it seems that one of these wishes will come true (sort of). Killzone 3 will be 3D enabled, and that’s almost too good to be true (if they can uphold the quality of its predecessor). But should Naughty Dog announce that the Uncharted games will be patched to support 3D, or announce an Uncharted 3 with 3D support, I’ll actually cry with happiness.

Finally, in the realm of theoretical discussions; would I argue for the market going cold turkey and simply go completely 3D? No; though I almost wish I was that selfish. As I stated above, some people are completely unaffected by the effects of 3D (I almost feel sorry for them; but I’m happy for their wallets, I suppose), and I don’t think anyone should be required to run out and buy a new 3D capable TV just to play newly released games. Also, let’s not forget that a lot of people with consoles can’t afford to buy a 3D TV yet, and while I know it’s a character flaw of mine, I tend to care about other people, and I don’t want anyone to miss out on new games just because they can’t afford a new type of TV.

Having said that, I do believe most people will enjoy 3D – given the chance – and many of them will surely get the same sense of ultra-immersion that I get, which is why I believe some type of 3D will become the norm, much sooner than I would have predicted before I tried it.

Immersion is everything to me. And 3D took it to a whole new level.