3D and Move – PlayStation 3.5

A lot has happened lately, to say the least. While I’ve had my 3D TV for a while now, the 3D Blu-Ray movie update was released recently (and I bought the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to be able to try it). In addition to this, the PlayStation Move has been released, along with a few new games, as well as Move-enabling patches for others. Throw into the mix that some of these new titles and patches include support for 3D. And even more 3D- and Move-enabled titles have been announced. In some ways, I feel like I now have a PlayStation 3.5, rather than the original console I bought a while back.

Anyone who has read my previous entries will know that 3D works really well on me, and that hasn’t changed. However, I found that watching a 3D movie – although most definitely preferable to “2D” movies – does not have quite the same level of wow:ness as 3D gaming. While I would love to have all my favorite movies in 3D, I would much rather have 3D-fied versions of all my favorite games.

It will come as no shock that 3D gaming has grown on me quickly. It has actually gotten to the point where I have run some games only in 3D-mode, and when I decided to try one of them (Tumble, specifically) in 2D, I realized it wasn’t for me, and switched back to 3D. I’m certain that there are other games, such as Killzone 3 and Crysis 2, which I will never play in “2D” mode. The 3D I’ve seen so far is gorgeous, and – as has been stated before – it may very well just keep getting better, as developers find and perfect new 3D techniques.

While on the topic of 3D I should also mention the recently released PlayMemories, which I downloaded the other day because I read it could show 3D photos. I didn’t have high hopes for 3D photos, because I extrapolated that 3D games with lots of interaction and freedom is awesome, while 3D movies are merely good, which would mean that a completely motionless picture must surely be “okay” — at best. Seeing as I didn’t have any 3D photos, I was hoping they would include a few samples. They did. And it was love at first sight. I’m now officially very interested in 3D photography. It truly is the way photographs should be taken and presented. Now I just need to figure out what 3D picture formats are supported by PlayMemories, and then figure out what program(s) can produce them.

I’m also enjoying the Move controller very much. It’s not perfect, but the same can be said for most things. While watching Move-trailers prior to its launch, there were several games which intrigued me, such as Tumble. And then there were others, like Sports Champions and The Shoot, which I didn’t feel were my kind of games. I preordered Sports Champions anyway beause I wanted to have something casual to play with friends who aren’t hardcore gamers, as well as having something demo-worthy for gamers who want to see what to expect from Move. But keeping an open mind, I also downloaded the The Shoot demo. As it turned out, I really liked Sports Champions. More surprisingly, I liked the The Shoot demo very much – so much that I preordered the full version as soon as I had finished it.

Both The Shoot demo and Sports Champion turned out to be very popular among a few friends who visited last Saturday; it was meant to be a little bit of a tech-demo for 3D and Move, but it turned out just to be a bunch of plain old fun. We also played Stardust, Wipeout HD, MotorStorm 3D Rift, Tumble, EchoChrome ii and Start the Party. While playing games is normally lots of fun, there’s something special about playing multiplayer-friendly games with a few friends. And I must admit that Start the Party was among the most fun I’ve had recently. It’s a completely insane game, which I recommend everyone try at least once.

And finally I’ve taken the time to set up MediaTomb recently, in an attempt to finally make use of the DLNA-features of my PlayStation, making it the ultimate entertainment center. It’s mostly been an academical project, but it’s nice to see that it works.

I’ve never regretted going with the PlayStation 3 rather than the alternatives, but these days that feeling has certainly been strengthened. The PS3 has its share of annoyances, but I’ve found that 3D and the Move controller takes gaming to a whole new level, one which I would not want to have missed out on.