Tech Focus: Stereo 3D - Year One

It's fair to say that the outlook thus far has been rather bleak and this may come across as especially surprising bearing in mind that Digital Foundry has historically been a champion for 3D gaming and has covered the format in more depth than all but the most dedicated blogs out there. The thing is, when 3D works, the effect is simply phenomenal, and while the first year has been beset with growing pains, I think it's safe to say that 3D gaming will - eventually - become mainstream and a standard, optional element in the vast majority of all console titles.

Just about all of the issues can be resolved to a certain extent (though the great "glasses debate" is likely to run and run for years yet). There has been widespread disappointment at the lack of tangible sales for 3DTVs, but the fact of that matter is that the inexorable march of technology means that 3D will be a standard fit in most screens by the time the next-gen consoles hit their strides. All it takes to turn a regular 2D display into a 3DTV is 120Hz support, an upgraded chipset and an IR emitter. Glasses will eventually be built to a standard and they'll be optional upgrades to the display, or bundled by canny retailers (already we are seeing the first signs of this).

Those optional upgrades are far likely to happen if there is the software to support it, and with 3D channels taking off, more sporting events covered in 3D and movies actually getting proper releases (the 3D version of Avatar's limited release still boggles the mind), a sense of momentum across multiple media will definitely make a difference. As it is, unlikely as it sounds, games have actually taken point in providing a rich and diverse library of 3D content.

In terms of the immersion factor, an easy to use calibration system would could be devised that would tune the 3D factor depending on the circumstances of the player - a system that would in essence work alongside the current PS3 XMB setting and the in-game "3D intensity" sliders that we often see.

Support is coming from an unexpected source... it's pretty much an open secret that Microsoft is going to add stereoscopic 3D HDMI 1.4 support to the Xbox 360 in the next dashboard update

I also think it's highly probably that next-gen hardware will target 1080p as native resolution for 2D, while 3D would be 720p - solving the fill-rate issue at least when it comes to technical compromises, and I would hope that a combination of increased developer know-how and 3D-specific APIs from Microsoft and Sony would help bridge the gap when it comes to the thorny issue of processing twice the amount of geometry in moving from 2D to 3D. While we can also expect other technologies to lower the hit to performance (such as reprojection, as featured in Crysis 2, SOCOM 4 and TriOviz titles like Enslaved), the real challenge moving forward is in how game makers choose to use 3D to provide a tangible improvement to the gameplay, moving beyond the addition of depth.

Games like MotorStorm Apocalypse and Killzone 3 offer a superb experience that elevates them beyond the 2D games even though there are noticeable technical compromises: the implementation of 3D isn't an after-thought and the effect is about much more than simply making an existing game "look cool". In the case of MotorStorm, tent-pole elements of the gameplay (for example, the interactive destructive set-pieces) almost look as though they've been "remastered" in 3D, the effect heightened through the expert implementation of the stereoscopic cameras. Killzone 3 - already a really intense game - is that much more visceral thanks to intelligent use of the technology.

Super Stardust HD is also an essential 3D game in that the existing gameplay plainly benefits from the introduction of depth, and it's an example of how older code was retrofitted into a newer engine in order to accommodate stereoscopy without any disadvantages compared to the standard 2D game. In fact, the process only benefitted the existing game, with the new engine put to work on providing a full 1080p resolution (the launch game was running at 1280x1080).

Going back to the question raised in the introduction, while it is safe to say that 3D isn't going to be a major concern for many games developers outside of Sony, there are clear indications that 3D is still alive and kicking. Of course, we can expect tentpole first party PlayStation 3 games to feature 3D - Resistance and Uncharted 3 are going to be important games. However, there's also support coming from an unexpected source: while there has been no announcement as of yet, it's pretty much an open secret that Microsoft is going to add stereoscopic 3D HDMI 1.4 support to the Xbox 360 in the next dashboard update, and it's already been announced that Gears of War 3 features 3D too. Another of the Q4 heavy-hitters - Batman: Arkham City - will see the implementation of the latest HDMI 1.4-enabled version of TriOviz too.

In terms of the volume of software out there, while it's unlikely that we'll see developers targeting 3D in quite the same way that Sony is but the platform holder is right to point out that adding 3D can be a relatively cheap endeavour. Indeed, adding 3D to a game that already supports split-screen sees most of the developmental effort done already - the concept of generating two independent viewpoints in a split-screen game has much in common with the process of adapting an existing renderer to support true stereoscopic 3D. It's no surprise that both Uncharted 3 and Gears of War 3 not only support 3D, but also split-screen modes too.

Quite what will happen with the Nintendo 3DS remains to be seen. Its price-drop will undoubtedly help, but it's still difficult to believe that cost was only a small element in its faltering launch - as always, it's all about the games, and it'll be interesting to see how the platform holder itself works to make 3D a valuable element of the core gameplay in what is a pretty exciting line-up of first party content. The Mario team working with 3D? Now that's something I want to see.