Gyroscope play the reason for lack of 3D on PS Vita

Sony Europe's Mick Hocking explains the decision not to include 3D in the PlayStation Vita, saying that current glasses-less 3D technology doesn't work well with gyroscopic controls.

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Given Sony's aggressive push for 3D on PlayStation 3, the absence of 3D on its upcoming Vita handheld has seemed odd. Nintendo released a glasses-free 3D portable with the 3DS--why not match it feature-for-feature?

Sony Europe's Mick Hocking has opened up about the variety of reasons behind the decision, but the main sticking point seems to be the gyroscopic controls in the Vita, and how glasses-less 3D is disrupted by movement.

"At the time we were looking at Vita, there were several issues," Hocking told GameSpot at Gamescom 2011. "One was the quality of the glasses-free 3D screens. It can work very well on small screens, but to get the best effect, you need to keep your head very, very still. Now with a handheld gaming device and Vita having Sixaxis motion control in it, there may be gameplay where you're moving the Vita around. And if you're doing that and having glasses-free 3D, the two things don't sit very well together. We wanted to offer a really, really high-resolution OLED screen, and the best way to do that was in 2D. At least for the first one."

Of course, the 3DS does actually have gyroscopic controls along with its 3D, but that has led to the kinds of struggles Hocking refers to. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D in particular have had a hard time reconciling the two features.

Shifting to Sony's own experience with 3D, Hocking commented on a "strong correlation" between good 3D content and a good fan response. "The opposite is also true. When people see 3D that doesn't work very well, or content that isn't very compelling, I think quite naturally they're not as interested in it."

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  • reply
    August 23, 2011 1:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Gyroscope play the reason for lack of 3D on PS Vita.

    Sony Europe's Mick Hocking explains the decision not to include 3D in the PlayStation Vita, saying that current glasses-less 3D technology doesn't work well with gyroscopic controls.

    • reply
      August 23, 2011 1:07 PM

      i personally prefer a gyroscope to a 3D display on a hand held.. and because of that i thank Sony for having taking a good decision..

      • reply
        August 23, 2011 3:38 PM

        I agree. I think gyro is a better feature. I understand that the 3DS has it, but if you get too into things, you can mess up your viewing angle. It makes me wonder how many games are really going to include a feature that messes the game up in that way. It doesn't so much make the games harder to play, but harder to experience in general.

    • reply
      August 23, 2011 1:10 PM

      saying that current glasses-less 3d technolgy everything doesn't work well with gyroscoptic controls.

      • reply
        August 23, 2011 1:35 PM

        Eh, actually they can be kinda cool. The optional gyroscopic arrow/slingshot aiming in the new Zelda was actually pretty good and useful. I found myself using it a lot.

    • reply
      August 24, 2011 7:47 AM

      Hmm.

      So Apple could take the iPod touch, and add two joysticks plus buttons on the two sides of screen like pictured above, and they'd probably create a dedicated handheld console that would beat 3DS and Vita combined.

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