It may require a new generation of game consoles to do true 3D

The first reviews of Sony's 3D games for the PlayStation 3 are coming in from E3. Keep in mind that the games being shown are alpha or even pre-alpha, so the experiences that reviewers are having could improve by the time the games are released. Nevertheless, reviewers are complaining that the resolution of 3D games is significantly lower than that of the same games in 2D mode. In addition, the requirement to use 3D glasses both decreases contrast and makes everything look darker; this is especially a problem with adventure and first-person shooter games that already fairly dark to begin with. The combination of these two problems makes some games much less enjoyable in 3D.

The reason that the resolution of 3D games is significantly lower than the same games in 2D is that the game console has to render images twice as fast in 3D than in 2D. Even the vaunted Cell processor in the PlayStation 3 doesn't have the horsepower to double its rendering speed for complex images, so game designers have to render lower-resolution images for 3D and hope that the 3D effect compensates.

It may take a new generation of game consoles to provide 3D games that look as good as today's 2D games. Nintendo is hinting that the successor to the Wii will be built for 3D from the ground up, and Sony's likely to find that it will take a PlayStation 4 to truly do 3D justice. Dual GPUs are likely to be needed in order to render graphics equal to the best of today's 2D games for 3D.

E3: Thoughts on Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have now all had their press events at E3. Let me preface this by saying that I'm at best a casual gamer, and I track the game console market only where it intersects with online video or other areas of interest. Therefore, I'm going to focus mainly on technology, not titles.

In my opinion, perhaps the most important product shown by the three companies was Nintendo's 3DS, both because it's a new platform and it displays 3D without requiring separate glasses. Nintendo dominates the handheld game console market, and the 3DS will help to maintain Nintendo's lead. What was disappointing, however, was that Nintendo announced neither a ship date nor a price for the 3DS.

Microsoft's Kinect (the new name for Project Natal) will serve as a strong mid-life "kicker" for the Xbox 360 platform. Kinect has a price ($150 in the U.S.), a release date (November 4th) and a collection of 14 games that will take advantage of the Kinect technology. Kinect and similar products could lead to controller-free remote controls and user interfaces for a variety of devices in the living room.

Sony announced pricing and availability for PlayStation Move, Sony's take on the Wiimote. The Move will be available in the U.S. on September 19th for $49.99, or as part of a bundle with one Move, a PlayStation Eye (one Eye is needed per PlayStation 3 in order to use Move controllers) and a copy of the PlayStation Move Sports Champions game, for $99.99.

This generation of game consoles is beginning to look a bit old, and both Microsoft and Sony are trying to inject life into their platforms with new controllers. Nintendo apparently feels that Microsoft and Sony are only now beginning to catch up with the Wii, and is focusing its attention on the 3DS and more Wii games. In any event, there weren't any overwhelming announcements from any of the three console makers.