Certain companies are pushing 3D gaming, but Microsoft’s Phil Spencer thinks there’s a way to go before it’s ready for prime time.
Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer thinks that Sony is jumping the gun with 3D gaming by trying to push it when so few people have the equipment to actually enjoy it. He said that, as an entertainment company, MGS was focused on making things that people can enjoy now, rather than in a few years when they replace their TV.
Spencer said that Microsoft wasn’t going to ignore 3D, but didn’t feel that a room full of people sitting around wearing expensive glasses was mainstream enough to warrant making it a big focus just yet. Spencer made oblique suggestions that Sony – meaning the entire company, not just Sony Computer Entertainment – had ulterior motives in promoting 3D, and said that unlike “other companies” Microsoft’s business model didn’t involve trying to sell you a new TV.
Spencer wasn’t against 3D gaming in general, he said that he liked the 3DS – or the idea of it anyway, as he hadn’t actually had a chance to see it first hand – because it didn’t require glasses or a new TV to work. He added that the Xbox 360 did have some 3D games, including a version of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum that came with a pair of 3D glasses, but said that at this early stage it felt more like “a science experiment” then something that would “touch millions.”
Obviously, as a Microsoft executive, everything that Spencer says has a certain degree of spin on it, but his comment about other companies wanting to sell TVs as well as games has a certain ring of truth to it. The likes of Killzone 3 and Gran Turismo 5 will undoubtedly look fantastic in 3D, but it’s naive to think that Sony’s only motivation for including the option is just to make a compelling entertainment product.
