Sony: 3D will make good gamers better

Sony PlayStation 3D gaming
PlayStation providing nearly 36 million 3D ready boxes to homes

3D games will not only make good gamers even better, but will also make certain games far more accessible to a whole new audience, according to Sony.

Sony is pushing 3D on its PlayStation console hard, with the recent rollout of firmware that supports 3D gaming bringing critical praise, and another upgrade bringing support for 3D Blu-ray scheduled for 'later this year'.

Speaking at an event for retailer John Lewis, Mick Hocking, Senior Director at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, told TechRadar that research was beginning to show tangible benefits of 3D in gaming.

"A lot of R&D"

"We're going to do some user testing because the evidence of user benefit is anecdotal right now, but we have a lab in the UK and we've been doing a lot of R&D activity," said Hocking.

"What we've noticed is that the guys in the office who are very experienced gamers tend to find it that bit easier to play.

"What we've also found is that people who don't generally like things like racing sims have really enjoyed the 3D versions.

"So why's 3D good and [2D] not to them? It's because it's more natural and the sense of speed is there.

"So they can do things like judge the braking better and it's much more immersive."

A new creative process

Hocking told TechRadar that developers were taking lessons from film to take advantage of the 3D and make first persons shooter in particular more immersive.

"The thing with first person shooters is that it brings you into the battle and makes you feel like you are there.

"Killzone 3 [3D] is phenomenal in the sense that it's a bit more than immersion – we're learning to play with it creatively to bring a sense of fear or unease."

"Now we can really bring things out of the screen towards you that you don't want to go near and it's building that sense of fear and immersion.

"It's a new creative process for us basically."

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.