Ahead of the Game?

Is there such a thing as being ‘too ahead’ of the game? Sony may very well have stumbled across that issue with the release of Playstation 3 almost four years ago. They bundled a Blu-Ray player with the console, but at the time of its release everyone had only just fully converted from video to DVD and the value of DVD’s had dropped to an affordable level. There was a comfortable balance established by the consumer and the market for the first time in several years. Then Sony won the HD war against Microsoft, who had bundled the HD-DVD with the Xbox 360, and so High Definition finally made an impact into the home market. Unfortunately, at this point, Blu-Rays were top flight prices, and normally for old films that have been remastered, and High Definition wasn’t really important enough to people to make them consider the switch. So what were Sony left with? An overly expensive console with a limited batch of games and a market that wasn’t quite ready for the next gen. Sony really suffered with this, losing millions hand over foot, putting them on the back burner from the get-go and allowing Microsoft and Nintendo to curry more favour with consumers. It’s only recently that Sony have managed to turn a profit on their system and that Blu-Ray is finally starting to get people’s attention.

However, just as Sony have finally put themselves back in the race, they almost seem ready to take themselves out again. In fairness, this time it’s a bit different as the Playstation 3 is in more homes than it was at launch, but with the announcement of a 3D patch to support most upcoming games, PS3 owners without a 3DTV are once again not going to benefit from the full Playstation 3 gaming experience. Before I go further, this isn’t related to Move, as that’s a separate entity altogether and is at a much more affordable price point. However, with 3D television only just coming onto the market, and at such a hefty price, are Sony trying to push us into the next generation too quickly, again?

When you consider that 3D has only recently become a sustainable trend, especially in cinemas, I believe that all of this is happening too fast. I’m not saying I’m not one for change, and that I dislike how things develop and evolve, but I still think the home market isn’t quite ready for the changes Sony are fixing to make such an important part of their feature system. When you consider the IMAX cinema is still very much in its infancy and is only in select parts of the World, with many people still not even sure what it is, many people are still happy to see a film without the embellishments. Also, a lot of people have only just fully converted to the High Definition Television and gotten used to being Digital Ready within the last year or so. Is this really the best time to tell them that it is already "old", and to keep up with technology they are going to have to spend more of their hard earned money?

There’s always been a market for the consumer with the money to afford the ultimate home experience. Before flat screen TV’s became the norm for everyone, you can bet that they were in select homes around the World being experienced by those with the money to back it. The same is true of 3D televisions, as I’m sure by now several people out there are enjoying their 50" Sony televisions and watching Eastenders with big beefy glasses on their head, whereas everyone else is probably making do with a 32” and is quite happy thank you very much.

And what about those who are said not to be able to experience 3D at all? The 12% of Britons who apparently can’t ‘see’ 3D. Does this now segregate and isolate them? Will they be left out in the cold in these plans? Just as perhaps the gaming pad of old isolated some people from playing console games and now Wii, Kinect and Move opens those doors, so 3D gaming could be about to slam the door shut in the face of another set of consumers. Such as is the case with technology undoubtedly, but it raises an arguable point.

I feel that Nintendo have learned from their previous mistakes with the Wii and motion control and are approaching this appropriately, making a self-contained 3D handheld system where you can switch the 3D effects on and off and bringing it out at an affordable price point. Frankly, I don’t think some people are even sure if they’re ready for 3D or not, or whether they want it to become such a big part of their lives. Nintendo are at least making a handheld system that provides those capabilities but also enables you to turn it off and play as normal without the need for a super expensive rig in order for it to work. With a few years experience of this, it’ll finally give people a chance to see whether or not this is appropriate for them. Nintendo at least appear to be giving people a choice and phasing it in gradually, whereas Sony are already making big plans to include it in their feature line-up of games heading into 2011. At present, they’re only utilising it with a limited library, but imagine when the library gets bigger and the releases are on a larger scale, how much promotion can we expect?

Especially when you consider the likes of Killzone 3 and Motorstorm Apocalypse, two of Sony’s feature titles, are making it an important part of the gaming experience.

It's also quite interesting to note Microsoft’s strategy doesn’t involve 3D gaming as yet and they’re being a lot more relaxed with it and allowing it to ‘progress naturally’.

With Sony being ahead of the game on this, they will have time to refine and tweak the technology to the best possible configuration when everyone else is ‘ready’ to get on board. In the meantime though, this smacks as more of an effort to bleed money out of the consumer rather than to release at a time more appropriate to them and to just deprive them of the absolutely best way to experience their Playstation 3 titles; something they probably felt assured they had when they got their HDTV set up.

Perhaps it’s me that’s behind the times, and I’m struggling to keep up with these rapid changes to the World of technology... When you consider how quickly things are replaced and are updated, perhaps I’m just more out of the technological loop than I care to admit. However, I don’t think 3D has had enough chance to blossom and prove itself to people to be a worthy enough purchase. Need I remind you that 3D was tried in the 80’s and it flopped massively. Granted, technology has evolved immeasurably since, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time developers have tried to make this work.

Right now, 3D is just a fun gimmick that is available to more people than ever before, and that’s fantastic. You can go to the cinema anytime you want, wear those goofy glasses for a few hours and go home at end of play. But is the World really ready for that in their living room, can we deal with the extensive, intensive use required for a computer game or your regular stream of television programmes?

Do you think the future is being rammed down our throats too fast, too soon?