3D PS3 'would have cost you £500k 10 years ago'

PS3 - 3D ready
PS3 - 3D ready

A Sony PlayStation and a 3D-ready television will still set you back a pretty penny, but, according to Sony 3D expert Ian Bickerstaff, getting the same experience would have set you back a cool £500,000 in the late 90s.

Bickerstaff, a senior engineer for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe – the division behind the PlayStation, was showing off the new 3D gaming on the console.

He has worked on Formula One and pilot training 3D in the past, and he insists that the level of experience being offered by pairing a PlayStation with a 3D-ready TV shows the progression the technology has made.

Half a mill

"The thing that's really exciting for me is that these sort of systems used to cost half a million pounds to give you that level of 3D," said Bickerstaff.

"We're only talking about the late 90s – not that long ago - and suddenly we're at the point where this is actually going to be affordable to people for their living rooms."

Bickerstaff also pointed out that the PlayStation can sense the size of your television and adapt around it.

"The PlayStation 3D update has a screen size variable," he adds. "It knows the size of the television screen, and because it knows the size…it can show off life size objects in front of you.

"All the infrastructure is in place. The products aren't there yet, but it's early days."

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.