Why did 3D gaming fail?

[Bob_McMillan]

At least, it's my impression that it did. The last time I saw a 3D option for a game was in an Assassin's Creed game and Deus Ex Human Revolution. When my dad got us a 3D Smart TV, I was excited at the prospect of playing video games at 3D. I soon found out that the "3D" was really more of an optical illusion. But that was with games that didn't have 3D built into them, I haven't experienced legitimate 3D gaming (the AC and Deus Ex games were on my laptop).

So, my question is, if you have played a game with 3D features, was it good? If you think it was, why do you think it fell out of use? If not, why?

 

[Silvanus]

Well, the 3DS seems to be doing very well. It doesn't appeal to me (I got a 2DS), but sales and popularity are high, and reception seems warm.

I simply don't see what it adds, and doubt many people are willing to spend significantly more money for a relatively minor visual tweak, and no extra content. Similarly, 3D cinema has failed to achieve wide success numerous times in the past, and I don't imagine it'll succeed this time either.

 

[Evonisia]

I imagine it's the same reason 3D cinema keeps failing: 3D is very niche.

You have a target demographic, and how many of them are willing to pay for expensive gear for something they can already enjoy without being burdened in the wallet or the living space.

 

[aozgolo]

3D isn't that niche, the success of 3D movie sales in theaters is pretty good, but the entry price point for at-home 3D is a bit high (though not inaccessible). I think the biggest issue though? It's not cross-platform friendly.

Basically if you're sitting the appropriate distance from your 3D TV with your glasses on playing your game on a console then it looks fine. Put that same game on a PC and you're going from a distance of like 20-30 feet to 2-3 feet away from the monitor, which is bound to have an impact on how well the 3D works. Very few people have 3D capable PCs at the moment I would wager, they are very much a novelty right now and don't have the presentation quality you would get from a 3D home theater which has a similar price point.

 

[Lightspeaker]

Well, the 3DS seems to be doing very well. It doesn't appeal to me (I got a 2DS), but sales and popularity are high, and reception seems warm.

I would bet that the vast, vast majority of people with 3DSs don't actually use the 3D function.

I have a 3DSXL, as does my sister. Neither of us use the 3D function very often. Frankly its not all that good and can make you feel quite ill.

 

[Bad Jim]

Well, the 3DS seems to be doing very well. It doesn't appeal to me (I got a 2DS), but sales and popularity are high, and reception seems warm.

I would bet that the vast, vast majority of people with 3DSs don't actually use the 3D function.

I have a 3DSXL, as does my sister. Neither of us use the 3D function very often. Frankly its not all that good and can make you feel quite ill.

I usually have it on. It's not that amazing once the novelty wears off but it's not a problem.

 

[Dimitriov]

It failed because it's incredibly fucking stupid. Who the hell wants to pay more for an optical illusion?

It's gimmicky and adds absolutely nothing of value to the experience.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So, my question is, if you have played a game with 3D features, was it good? If you think it was, why do you think it fell out of use? If not, why?

Expensive to develop
Reliant on compatability with different brand's various takes on active/passive 3D screens
Low uptake and death of 3D TVs
Oculus Rift came along and made 3D TV's look incredibly backward and useless

If you can track someone with DK2 down, play Alien: Isolation on Oculus Rift, you won't sleep for a week, but it's worth it.

 

[Velociferocks]

I bought a 3D monitor a couple of years ago, I got it mainly for the 120 fps stuff but the Nvidia 3d vision glasses where included so I've tried it with a bunch of pc games and a few 360 games. Barring some compatibility issues the 3D effects are very good, but as people has said previously it doesn't really add anything and needing glasses for it is just too much of a hassle.

 

[Jadak]

It's not the holodeck and really, who gives a shit about "not the holodeck"

 

[Pr0]

It failed because it's incredibly fucking stupid. Who the hell wants to pay more for an optical illusion?

It's gimmicky and adds absolutely nothing of value to the experience.

You do realize that real human 3D vision is also just and optical illusion, right?

Thats an extreme simplification of how our brain interprets light as its passed through the optic nerve to the visual cortex but...okay, we'll roll with "illusion" if that works for you.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

because 3D as it currently stands is a horrible idea. going to 3D movies is fucking awful you can only follow a small window of the overall picture of whats going on. you think that idea gets better or worse when applied to something more involved like games? add to it that 3D doesn't really work without inducing headaches and motion sickness because it's tricking your eyes into making the 3D image. they don't normally work that way so it puts alot of strain on them. even these new VR headsets supposedly mess you up during extended usage. how is any of that supposed to work for games that have 10-20+ completion times. imagine putting 100 hours into a game 30-40 minutes at a time, it'd be horrible. companies need to find ways to match the way people play, more relaxing, taking into consideration gaming is a thing people do to unwind and relax, if the process itself puts too much strain on them it's not going to remain as popular.

 

[kilenem]

Well the 3D tracking is one the best features of the New 3DS.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Because it was terribly done, when it comes to 3D things need to be at a very precise distance from one another for our eyes to accept them... which no manufacturer gave that much of a crap about, their shit was sold on hype not function.
So the usual result:
- intense eye strain
- headaches
- nausea
- (in case of 3DS) halved performance

Poor 3D is like selling 8k monitors/TVs with 5 frames per second maximum... sure you got one new feature but then fucked all the other functionality.

 

[DementedSheep]

How many people actually have 3D capable tv's? it never really took off. Adding 3D to games as it is now just seems like a cash/resource sink and like it would be hell for performance.
For me, I get headaches when watching a 3D movie (I only go to one when family/friends want to) let alone trying to play a game with that and I don't think it adds very much.

 

[J Tyran]

Because it was bloody awful? I bought a 144Hz monitor that had it, even bought the goggles when they were cheap and apart from a couple of games that supported it natively it was terrible. Same goes for the PS3, tried that on my 3D TV and the frame rates where awful (20 FPS or so) and it was blurry and gave me a headache pretty quickly.

For my PC it had every advantage, lighting fast <1ms pixel response, light boost that eliminates pixel blur (the backlight strobes several times per frame so the backlight is "off" during transition, the effect is a bit like a CRT)) and up to 144Hz and a video card that can drive it and despite it all it still sucked.

 

[Rack]

I got a 3Dtv just because it was what was available and it was way better than I was expecting. 3D movies at home look much better than you normally get at cinemas (though I have to say iMax 3D is awesome if you get to sit dead center) and I found my lap times in Wipeout Fury to increase dramatically from playing in 2D.

But on the other hand the 3DS 3D is a bit rubbish, even at its best 3D isn't competing with VR, the whole thing is a pain to set up, very few people can use it, it demands a ton of resources and all round it's easy to see why it never took off.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I play a lot of games on my 3DS and even when my GF got the New 3DS XL, I tend to keep the 3D off while I play. I'm not sure if I would go so far as to call it a bad idea because there are some moments (mostly cutscenes) wherein the effect is pretty cool. The thing is, when I did play with 3D on for any length of time, I got a bit of a headache and with a game like Kid Icarus Uprising, I even felt a bit dizzy as I played. Outside of the 3DS though, I haven't really played any other games in 3D. I think I would have the same issues though and in general, I don't care too much for 3D. I don't care to watch 3D movies and I don't see myself ever buying a 3D TV.