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The need for glasses may be holding people back from adopting 3D TVs, according to Julien Merceron, the worldwide technology director at Square Enix.
“I think 3D without glasses is a win; 3D with glasses is a huge problem,” Merceron told VideoGamer.com at the Develop conference in Brighton. “I think the only way to make 3D work in the living room is to remove the need for glasses, and that will lead to wider adoption.”
Merceron believes that the glasses-free 3D offered by the 3DS could pave the way for future devices.
“I think the 3D on the 3DS is fairly successful,” he said. “We’re starting to see a few games that are really taking good advantage of 3D, and we’ll probably start to see 3D on more mobile devices. Maybe it’s going to then move to slightly larger screens, on tablets, and then slowly move to netbooks and laptops before we get the right technology together to apply it [3D] to really large screens.
“If 3D on mobile and small screen devices really takes off, that’s going to help companies to invest a lot of cash in research for solving the problems for wider screens.”
Naturally, some people might question this assertion, given that 3DS games haven’t exactly been flying off the shelves.
“I think it’s a question of line-up,” said Merceron. “I think that when Mario Kart and the new Mario [Super Mario 3D] are out we’ll see the 3DS taking off. I think it was bold to not launch the 3DS with very strong IP from Nintendo.”
Bold? Even Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has more or less admitted that the 3DS launch lacked quality titles.
“I think it was bold. Whether it was a mistake or not, we’ll have to see over time. But I definitely think it would have helped.”
Most people I’ve spoken to agree that the need to wear glasses for 3D is a turn-off, especially given that the specs themselves cost in the region of £50, on top of the cost of the TV.
All the same, I’m not sure that the 3DS has done much to advance the cause of 3D gaming either. As I’ve said recently, I agree with Iwata and think that Nintendo must learn from its 3DS mistakes if the Wii U is to succeed.
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