Sony opened its press conference at the big video game trade show, E3, with a pitch for 3D TV gaming.
The company started by showing a Killzone 3 scene, viewable by 3D glasses, on a big screen at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said there are more than 35 million PlayStation 3 consoles that are now 3D ready thanks to a software update. Sony is shipping its 3D ready Bravia TVs now. Kaz Hirai, executive vice president of Sony, said there would be more than 20 games — including Gran Turismo 5 — published in 3D by year end. Game publisher allies are doing titles such as Crysis 2, Tron Evolution, NBA 2K 11, and Shaun White Skateboarding — all in 3D. The idea is to pull the “game out of the TV into the living room.”
The company’s announcement took place today at the E3 video game show, which will draw 45,000 industry professionals to Los Angeles this week. I have generally hated 3D viewing in everything except the film Avatar. Killzone 3 looked nice, but I’m not so sure it looks that great on a much smaller screen. But we’ll see if it grows on me. I liked the no-glasses Nintendo 3DS screen. But I generally don’t think 3D viewing works on home TVs. But Sony wants this show to be the big turning point for 3D gaming.
Sony is also pushing its new controller, Sony Move, the wand-like device that is more precise than the Nintendo Wii and competes head to head against Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensing system. The Move and Kinect are both coming out this fall, so Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all trying to get developers and consumers on board with their new kind of gaming. Talk about a war for the hearts and minds of gamers.
The Move (pictured) has its own motion sensor in it and it also coordinates with the PlayStation Eye video camera to detect your movement in games. More than 40 developers and publishers are working on new Move-based games, which are sort of like Wii games on steroids.
One game demoed for the Move was Sorcery, a fantasy game where you shake a wand to fire magic blasts at creatures. You can spin the controller over your head to create a whirlwind. You can draw a line of fire in front of you as a defense. This is a hardcore game that is coming in the spring of 2011.
Another game shown on stage was Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 from Electronic Arts. With each swing of the golf club, you could tell that the club’s movement on Tiger was closely aligned with the swinging of the Move.
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