3D with glasses a ‘weird, gimmicky thing’ says Gilbert

Nintendo’s been very vocal about its opinion that 3D which requires the user to wear glasses is going nowhere – so much so that it’s gotten Sony a bit upset – but according to legendary video games creator Ron Gilbert, the Japanese video game giant has a point.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com earlier this week, we asked the Secret of Monkey Island creator for his opinion on one of the hottest topics at E3 last month.

“I’ve not seen the Nintendo DS, the 3D one, so I can’t really comment on that,” said Gilbert. “But I think 3D is always going to be a little bit odd as long as we have to wear glasses. The point at which I can sit in my living room and play an XBLA game on my TV and not wear glasses, I think that’s the point when 3D will really take off.”

“As long as you have to wear glasses it’s going to be a weird, gimmicky thing,” he concluded.

It’s not 3D or motion controls that excite Gilbert, but the general idea of continuing to innovate and break the industry away from its hardcore roots.

“I think some of the things that excite me are the things that can happen with innovation, so that the industry doesn’t become stale,” he said. “For me I think the most exciting thing of all about the industry is seeing it break out of that hardcore game mould. You look at people today, and everyone plays games. Maybe they play them on their iPhone, or maybe on the Wii, or maybe they play them on Facebook, but everybody in the world plays games today.

“I think that’s absolutely fascinating and I really love it, because I think our industry has to break out of the 15-year-old boy we’ve been focusing on for so long.”

Read our full interview with Ron Gilbert right here.