Why Sony believes 3D is here to stay
SCEE's Mike Hocking chats about everything 3D.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Mike Hocking is a busy man. Not only does he run three game development studios in the UK, he's also in charge of 3D games development worldwide for Sony. Even with all this on his plate he found the time for a chat at gamescom earlier this month. Read on for news of a 3D LittleBigPlanet, why Sony's 3D is the best and why viewing 3D content is a lot like going for a swim.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what it is you're doing at Sony in regards to 3D?
Mick Hocking: I'm a senior director for Sony Europe. I run three game development studios in the UK: Evolution Studios who makes MotorStorm, Liverpool Studio that used to do F1 that now does WipEout, and BigBig who've done Pursuit Force and MotorStorm Arctic Edge on PSP.
I also look after 3D games development worldwide for Sony. I deal with all the studios worldwide, both educating them along with my 3D team on how to do 3D, and supporting them in converting their games to get the best 3D experience.
One thing we're doing an awful lot of is, it's incredibly important because this is year zero for 3D entertainment - all the TVs have been launched and we've got a huge range of content in film and broadcast and gaming and personalised content like photography in 3D. We're building a market. We're growing this market this year, so it's incredibly important that we develop very high quality, stunning, but also comfortable to view 3D experiences.
What's true in gaming and in film and broadcast is that a lot of people don't know how to create 3D correctly. Those that do, the James Camerons and our studios - the Guerrillas and Evolutions - are producing stunning quality 3D, but we want everybody to do that, because what's true of great quality 3D is it brings people back, they are amazed by it. What's also true of poor quality 3D is that is has the opposite effect.
Q: So is your goal to educate other studios?
MH: We go around the world. Pretty much every studio that we've ever dealt with is very interested in converting their game to 3D. Really the only ones who aren't doing it are the ones who are so busy trying to get their game finished and out of the door.
Q: Are you going to studios outside of Sony?
MH: My team focusses mainly on first party studios, but we work with third party support groups. We've trained other publishers, we've trained third-party developers on how to convert their games to 3D. Really we want everybody to understand the medium properly. It's not just about adding depth to a game; you need to understand how to create it correctly.
Q: We've seen already with movies, with Crash of the Titans, that bad 3D can really hurt the experience.
MH: The people who have been working with 3D the longest - we were talking to Sky the other day - they are really clued up as well now. They understand the necessity to produce only good quality 3D experiences, because if they don't people are not going to come to 3D. James Cameron with Avatar did a great job of showing great quality 3D to a huge audience, he's opened everybody's eyes to it. We're going to do the same with these games, we've got 20 games coming out in the next 12 months alone - something like 22 now actually - so there's huge interest, but we're stressing to people that you must do it well. We don't want people to get tired eyes after viewing 3D, and you don't if it's done right.
Q: You want the early experience to be good.
MH: Exactly and it's word of mouth.
Q: It's harder to sell if they start off with a bad experience.
MH: Exactly. If they see stunning experiences like this they go and tell their friends. It's word of mouth marketing, the most powerful form of marketing known to man. That will generate that buzz about 3D and ultimately the size of our 3D market is going to be defined by the number of 3D TVs out there.
Q: Are people buying them?
MH: They are, certainly. It's an early adopter market right now, these are people that love early technology.
Q: The same kind of people that have a PlayStation.
MH: Exactly. Gamers always love new technology. It's not just gamers. I think what's significant about the growth of the market is that you've got a lot of 3D movies - something like 100 in production at the moment - they'll be coming to 3D Blu-ray.
Q: You've still go that update coming this year to PS3?
MH: Yeah, that's right. You'll be able to view those on your PS3 in the near future. You've got more than 20 games coming in the next 12 months, you've got Sky and ESPN and Discovery Channel launching their 3D channels now. The minute that good quality football comes in 3D you'll see a huge wave of interest. It's in pubs, but people want to go into their homes to watch it.
It's not only that. It's things like personalised content. The next camera you buy with probably have 3D capabilities. The next camcorder you buy will probably be 3D capable. You'll be filming your family and friends in 3D and where do you want to view that? You'll want to view that on TV. YouTube has a dedicated 3D channel now and they're actively encouraging the community to get out there and play with 3D. You can see right across a broad range of media there's lots and lots of 3D content. All of those are different reasons to get people to go and buy that 3D TV.
User Comments
rbevanx@ Woffls
They have done another layer on layer etc in terms of narrative for years, just like you said with Inception even to lituture with Mark Twain and Hucleberry Finn (story within a story) or Memento and Pulp Fiction (Non-Linear).
The problem with 3D in film is not the current problems with it (glasses, headaches etc) it distracts the audiance from the narraitive and in film you have little time/freedom to play with narraitive (unlike books, comics and TV etc). So you are fighting to keep a narrative in there even without 3D. To make a film marketable, the studio asks filmmakers in a blockbuster for "an action scene or an explosion every 6-10 mins". In terns of adding to a film artisticlly, I see little room for it and I have never seen it demonstrated in any way (even by a great directors like James Cameron or Robert Zemeckis) that it adds anything at all.
In films it just has zero potential to me, but in gaming it does in all honesty to me.
Woffls@ rbevanx
In practical terms I might agree with you because 3D is awful at the moment and, as you say, the colour depth really suffers alongside other technical limitations. But conceptually, do you think 3D can't add something eventually? I ask because you're probably the biggest film fan on the forum.
I think there is some real potential for 3D in film, but for the most part I think its best implementation is just to add depth (durr hurr) to the environments.
What I would love to see is using the extra layers in a really subtextual way. Say you've got 3 'layers' for the normal film: background, foreground and characters for simplicity. Then, at the front of that you've got a layer that almost isn't part of the film - I'll call it the "fourth layer" for its connotation to the fourth wall. Take Inception as an example. The dreamer begins to wake up when they see something out of place, so perhaps Nolan could've put a layer of detail up front with the intention of the occasional inconsistency appearing so that some viewers realise early that they're watching a dream! It's just an idea, but I think there's more potential there than most people assume.
But I agree there's far more potential in games.
rbevanx@ pblive
Quote:
Ok that’s turned into a no now just from the space of one sentence.
Quote:
Before I start I don't like 3D, for me it gives me a headache and in films doesn't add anything for me, it’s just not for me.
But putting my personal view and problems with it firmly aside...3D in films doesn't work/add to the film and in games it potentially add to the game.
First it won't work in films as we are following a narrative/character and the 3D is nothing but a distraction to what is going on. With the current tech in the cinema you have to sit in the centre but the biggest problem is that the contrast of the image has been greatly lowered which is what’s giving the people the headaches (inc myself).
In games it can work as games tends to be a narrative or environment that the player interacts with. The use of Kinect/Move (which are other devices I'm not fussed on) are perfect for the use with 3D. Imagine a shooter where things were coming at you and you could duck or pick up the object and throw it back etc.
Exactly in it's defence it has potential to work.
pblive
I'm not defending Sony or the current push for 3D uptake, but anyone saying 'oh, 3D won't be successful' really needs to clarify what they mean. The sales have now exceeded their projected values and people ARE buying 3D TVs and movies in enough numbers to sustain the Market.
Is it widespread enough to consider it a completely safe bet for studios or games developers? Not quite, but signs are that it may get there.
My personal view after watching 3D movies and playing PS3 games in 3D is that the movies win out over the games, it's far more comfortable than at the cinema and wearing normal glasses has no impact, but generally there is still some mild eye strain at times when the 3D effect is pushed to its limits (usually when it doesn't need to be).
Is it essential? No, it's an enhancement, like HD is and there are still Many people who don't even use HDTVs, even gamers.
SexyJams@ Mr_Ninjutsu
Mr_Ninjutsu@ Highwayman
Highwayman
RAGE_OF_THORN
gmensah
reynoldio
strickers66
The 3D tvs are not that expensive though and will be even cheaper in a year.Anyone who thinks they are expensive needs to look at early Plasma/LCd pricing.
Woffls
What we need to understand is that there is no 'single future' that's unavoidable. Something like HD is different because it's screen technology and not game technology, but games are still made for SD gamers in mind. 3D doesn't quite fit into this because, although it's an advancement in screen tech, it is effectively a new module into the equation, and as such it can be shifted to one side and ignored as we please.
If 3D is ever the predominant means for playing games, I absolutely guarantee you it will be done without glasses, and with sub-£500 TV's. Until that time, we have nothing to worry about. And this is assuming it even takes off, but I think it's safe to say Sony and Nvidia can force it upon the market eventually.
SexyJams
Or how about asking Peter Molyneux why Fable III will be the best RPG ever.
Bloodstorm
scaz2244
Ithi k il wait for wearing no glasses til I upgrade to 3D