Remember the 3D craze? LOL. WTF?

[Qronicle]

I owned a passive LG 3D TV (still have it as backup though) and really liked the 3D. Movies looked great on it (Avatar, Tintin, ...), but the PS3 was not really capable of delivering good looking 3D games, as the aliasing ruined the picture. It could be very immersive though, I'll never forget the first time I tried Motorstorm on that rooftop level were buildings are collapsing left right and center. I recon that for games, it came a generation too soon. Gran Turismo & Uncharted were just too demanding to really properly display in 3D at the time, which is why I was dissappointed that the remasters didn't include this option.

It also helped that passive TV's don't need charged glasses, and the passive glasses themselves are very light and cheap to get.

If games still supported it, I would've gladly bought an 4K 3D TV. I thought the results were pretty impressive when done right, and the effort to put on a pair of "sunglasses" is pretty much zero.

 

[apocat]

Never even tried a 3D TV, but you won't ever catch me playing my 3ds without the 3D turned to full strength. It's a really cool effect, and I don't get how you could think otherwise.

 

[LumberPanda]

3D for games is actually really really amazing and it's a shame that it hasn't taken off just because it's a terrible effect for movies.

 

[gofreak]

3D for games is actually really really amazing and it's a shame that it hasn't taken off just because it's a terrible effect for movies.

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Well, it's been rolled into VR. So it's a going concern as long as VR is at least.

 

[Akita One]

The 3DS was the best thing to come from that era, by far.

I don't know where this assumption came from that "no one used the 3D" on the 3DS...it was very popular. It just wasn't a necessary feature, and not worth losing the ability to sell games for young kids, plus the increase development that it required to be executed correctly.

To this day, the 3D affect on the 3DS is still mindblowing for me.

 

[ΑGITΩ]

I actually still have my Playstation 3D Display pictured in OP, it was a black friday special afyer it bombed, i worked at best buy at the time and snagged it up for $99. Its not bad, i currently use it to play old systems as neither of my 4Ks have non-hdmi connections.
In terms of 3D, i used it back when i was a bachelor as a bedroom TV, a lot of 3D movies but the only game i played in 3D was AC3 on Wii U, which I played almost exclusively in 3D. Honestly if it was for the glasses, id still prefer 3D. 3D HDR would be amazing just thinking of the concept.

 

[K' Dash]

Years ago I bought a Panasonic plasma 3D with active glasses to experiment with 3D gaming with my PC.

I have to say that Dead Space 2 is pretty fucking amazing in 3D, RE5 is gorgeous too.

 

[Deluxury]

n3DS's 3D is amazing. It would be a sin to discard it forever; I hope it returns in a future handheld someday. Either 540p x 2 or 720p x 2.

 

[Perzeval]

Jurassic Park was an amazing watch in 3D though

 

[TheFurizzlyBear]

I really enjoyed the 3D "split screen" that could be done. Played some Black Ops 2 that way and it was a blast.

 

[toadfrawg]

3D is awesome to me. I don't understand people's disdain for it. On the 3DS it adds so much depth to the games and makes it so much more immersive to me. Same with movies. Thankfully VR has picked up the torch somewhat.

 

[OmniStrife]

Garbage 3D is unfortunately still alive and kicking in the movie industry.

 

[rodrigolfp]

3DS, 3D Vision and Theaters are great, sorry OP.

 

[BDS]

Back in 2015 my dad bought this massive 70" 1080p 3D TV instead of a 4K one like I recommended because "3D is the future" and "you can't even tell with 4K." 3D was basically on its way out the door already in 2015 but he refused to listen.

Now it's 2019 and he complains that he can't buy 3D versions of any new movies "to make the most of the TV" and I'm always like "I freaking told you to get a 4K TV" and he still insists there's no difference.

 

[BlakeofT]

I loved the 3D on 3DS. It's still magical to me. I'd lose my mind if there was a 3DSwitch.

 

[maximumzero]

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I rather regret not nabbing that 3D TV actually as it supposedly has a PSP mode that scales connected PSP devices perfectly without having to deal with black bars.

How many of you actually kept your 3DS in 3D mode? How many actually got a 3D TV? How many actually used 3D?

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Can't think of a good reason why I'd ever turn 3D off. It enhanced practically every game that utilized it.

 

[DanteLinkX]

Still wish I could've checked out that 3D split-screen, heard it was pretty rad.

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It was awesome playing multiplayer that way. Of course you could cheat by peeking out of your glasses lol. But cool nonetheless.

 

[Mzo]

3DS 3D is dope, everything else is wack.

 

[MissCauthon]

I AVOID like the plague any 3d movies, i just don't like em. I wear glasses already. No way in hell im going to be wearing huge glasses over my well huge glasses lol.
Not only that I find it to look nice yes for STILL scenes where nothing is happening.
As soon as stuff starts moving like crazy, the image just looks terrible. Especially movies at cinematic frame rates it just makes it worst for me. All the action scenes are hard to follow in 3d for me. It's almost as if my eyes go stupid on me and can't focus.

 

[Fisty]

I wish this wasn't so literal. Seriously Sony why are you still using the Move? How have you not released updated motion controllers? You bloody well better next gen if you're serious about VR.

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Maybe so, but it was pretty awesome to find out I actually had VR controllers collecting dust in my drawer for years. When PSVR came out I only needed the headset, since i already had the moves and camera. It's kind of a Nintendo-like approach, in a way, where Sony is using old tech for a different purpose to keep costs low and have an assumed relative understanding of the tech right out of the gate

 

[ericsp17]

A few games did it alright - Uncharted 3, Halo CEA, Oot 3d. It wasn't a revelation or anything, but it was cool to look at.

TV tech has been a bit of a letdown the past decade. 3d, 4k, HDR have all been nice but I haven't really had that 'holy shit' moment since the jump from SD to HD. That initial shift in clarity was crazy.

 

[ascii42]

I remember a lot of people saying "3D is here to stay, it's different this time!". Which is also what people are saying about VR right now, although VR technology is at least far ahead enough for there to be good games developed exclusively for it and is not necessarily just a gimmick like 3D.



It can also output PSP games via component cable to fill the entire screen without using a zoom function, if I'm not mistaken.

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It has a dedicated PSP view mode, yeah. I have a PSP 1000 which didn't have the video out so I haven't tried that out.

 

[Deleted member 3058]

The 3D craze was never that high in gaming, but got demolished when consumer VR solutions started getting demoed.

VR takes 3D to its logical next step.

edit: typo

 

[qrac]

Some theatrical movies looked downright INCREDIBLE in 3D; Coraline, the remastered Nightmare Before Christmas, Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon, Hugo, and Alita come readily to mind.

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Mad Max Furt Road.

We had an LG 3D TV, never used it for games, a couple of times for movies, like mad Max or avatar. N3DS is set to zero 3D. It was just a push to sell higher prices tickets at the theater and sell new TV sets after everyone has a HDTV.

 

[Bman94]

I loved the 3D function on the 3DS. I used it a ton and it was great for games like Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 8 and Kid Icarus Uprising.

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

Puppeteer in 3D is fucking godlike, though! It was designed for it and it really shows.

Also playing Resistance 3 in 3D with the Move controller made me feel like a goddamn space man.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

i bought that playstation 3D TV for $99 on Black Friday 2012 and it was a pretty good monitor for that price.

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Same! It still works and is actually a rather nice TV for the size. It works better as a monitor, though.

 

[Calverz]

My 4k panasonic 58" led is like one of last tv's to have 3d. And im glad i have it. I recently watched terminator 2 in 3d and it was awesome.

I liked 3d. Games were bad though because it effectively halved the resolution.

I also enjoyed the 3d on the 3ds. I remember super mario land looking great in 3d.

 

[Reinhard]

Active shutter glasses were crap, passive glasses were fine but most 3d in movies is incredibly underwhelming. Also it didn't help that before 4k tvs, the 3d shown was below 1080p. So the combo of 4k 3D TV and passive glasses can be great for a few movies like Avatar, Coraline, and Gravity. But I don't bother watching a 3d version of a movie anymore unless I hear great things about the 3d. For gaming, it was always incredibly underwhelming and not worth the decrease in brightness and lower resolution.

 

[Deleted member 41520]

The worst thing was that the awful 3D fad tarnished VRs potential in the eyes of many for a long time. "Pfft, it'll just be another 3D".

So annoying.

 

[yyr]

Sega 3D Classics and Super Mario 3D Land absolutely make the feature worth it on 3DS.

I wonder if we'll see a similar thread about VR in 5-10 years, or whether more devs and gamers will take it seriously soon...

 

[VG Aficionado]

I did try some PS3 games, a PS4 game and some movies, and I always thought it was trash. Same with the one time I went to watch a 3D movie at the cinema: not only the ticket was more expensive, but the artificial depth was just a visual gimmick which added nothing to the cinematography. Although the trend probably helped push some underlying tech improvements in late gen PS3 games such as Motorstorm Apocalypse and Uncharted 3, which look downright incredible on the original hardware.

The good thing about the 3D craze is that it led manufacturers to build some very high quality TV sets. I had a 3D Bravia which was ridiculously big and expensive, but when set properly the picture quality was stunning: 240 Hz refresh rate made side scrollers keep a sharp picture during gameplay, something I haven't seen even on recent TVs. I returned my first 4K TV after I saw how blurry this kind of games looked even at the highest resolution, because I thought 60 Hz refresh rate would be enough... it wasn't. I was truly spoiled.

 

[MP!]

I have that little TV... they were selling it on mega clearance
It now runs my Mini NES and SNES

 

[Driver]

VR is 3D tech plus head tracking. 3D tech is just getting going.

 

[shadowman16]

Sega 3D Classics and Super Mario 3D Land absolutely make the feature worth it on 3DS.

I wonder if we'll see a similar thread about VR in 5-10 years, or whether more devs and gamers will take it seriously soon...

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The Sega 3D Classics have basically given my 3DS a second lease on life. I've been playing the first lot of 3D Classics games all week and I'm really impressed with just how well the effect works especially with the super scaler games like Space Harrier and Outrun. That said, Streets of Rage, while a more subtle use of 3D still looks fantastic as well.
Mario 3D Land definitely used it to great effect as well, was super awesome seeing the depth in some of those levels. Just felt weird checking it out in 2D, felt so... flat.

 

[Z-Beat]

It was bad. Same with movies... are they still pushing 3D in theaters?

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Not as much as they used to when Avatar blew up

 

[Kaiser Swayze]

I wonder if we'll see a similar thread about VR in 5-10 years, or whether more devs and gamers will take it seriously soon...

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PSVR has been cranking out quality content on the regular, the Oculus Quest has been flying off shelves, and Valve just released their own high-end VR set. The format continues to pick up heat, and by the time the Quest starts to cool off, we'll have the PS5 giving it yet another boost. I have yet to see any signs of a lack of confidence by either manufacturers or software developers.

 

[Pargon]

– Active 3DTVs with shutter glasses: Trash​

– 3D video: Trash​

– 3D movies: Trash​

– Nintendo 3DS: Trash​

– 3D console games, typically running at <720p and <30 FPS: Trashfire​

​

~ 3D games played in a giant virtual theater in VR: Great, if you can deal with the headset.​

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+ NEW Nintendo 3DS (XL) with IPS displays and Super-Stable 3D: Amazing​

+ PC games running in 3D at high resolutions, high frame rates, and displayed on a Passive 3D display: Incredible​

3D is amazing when using one of the good implementations of it. I find it significantly more immersive.
The problem is that 3D was pushed too early (should have waited for Passive 4K) and the market was flooded with garbage products.
I'm still disappointed that I opted to not buy one of the last 4K OLED 3DTVs on closeout before they dropped the feature entirely, and that NVIDIA has removed 3D support from the latest drivers.

The Switch should have been a 480p3D device instead of a 720p2D one. It can't even run most games at 720p handheld.

Now, how many games support them?

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You can use gyro control in the majority of games on PC (typically for aiming).

Passive 3d on 4k sets was fantastic, wish it was still around. From what I've read, hdr actually killed off 3d as a feature, the screen brightness would of been chambered with 3d.

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Including 3D support -passive support at least- does reduce the display brightness slightly. If I recall correctly, LG increased the brightness on their OLEDs by about 50 nits the year after its removal.
The unfortunate thing is that HDR-capable displays would have greatly benefited 3D due to the extra brightness.

 

[Chip Chanceworth]

The 3D boom is what drove Nintnedo to be at their lowest in terms of originality. The 3DS felt like such a response to what was happening in the tech world and entertainment industry. It may have been my least favorite Nintendo system all said and done, especially once i turned off the 3D after about a week. It was just a supped up DS. But to be fair, it was the 3D functionality that made me buy it day one. So i guess it worked in that regard.

 

[Tetrinski]

The split screen TV was a brilliant idea, I wish all TV's had it. Instead we got no split screen at all this gen.

 

[Deleted member 13155]

3D was terrible. I always pick 2d when ordering tickets, if possible.

There were a few good 3D movies, Avatar, Judge Dredd and Hugo.

 

[Black_Stride]

3DS was/is the shit.

I was one of the haters till I actually got to try the 3DS, i was sol almost instantaneously.

3D Vision was a cool gimmick but if anyone still has the old drivers and the 3D Vision glasses with a modern GPU.

Go back and play some of the perfect rated 3D Vision games.....its still a trip to do

I remember playing Split/Second on my PC in 3D and I was blown the fuck away.

But im glad console games dropped that shit....werent games rendered at like 400p or something in 3D mode?
I remember trying Gears of War in 3D and was absolutely appalled.
Would have to try it on XB1X to see if its any good.

 

[shoemasta]

I watched Fury Road in 3D. That was pretty dope

 

[yyr]

PSVR has been cranking out quality content on the regular, the Oculus Quest has been flying off shelves, and Valve just released their own high-end VR set. The format continues to pick up heat, and by the time the Quest starts to cool off, we'll have the PS5 giving it yet another boost. I have yet to see any signs of a lack of confidence by either manufacturers or software developers.

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The lack of confidence comes from the fact that big-name IPs from large publishers are largely absent from all VR platforms, save for a select few (Skyrim, DOOM, Resident Evil VII, Gran Turismo Sport...what else is there...?). Nothing of significance from EA, Activision, Square Enix, Take-Two...

It seems like they're afraid.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

I knew 3D was gonna fail in the gaming industry.


My 3DS - ever since I've gotten it back in 2015, only used 3D once and never again - and the reason why I used it is because I wanted to see how it was and it was horrible.


Hopefully I will be right with VR as well.

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You hope VR fails? How anyone can actually say this defies logic. Everything right now suggests you will be wrong considering it's consistently growing and the state of games are getting better and bigger.

I can understand being skeptical of VR and needing to grow more, but no gamer worth their salt should want VR to die.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

IDC, how goofy 3D glasses were and stuff, having depth perception in games made them a shit ton more immersive to me. At least 3D lives on through the VR landscape but sadly i can't experience it since VR makes me dizzy.

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VR shouldn't be making people feel dizzy at 90Hz with a correct IPD. The hardware is no longer at fault here. It was likely the software (or my aforementioned points) causing it.

 

[Nax]

I loved my 3D TV during the craze. 3D Blu-rays looked great. 3D game on PS3 were incredible. I hadn't seen anything like it before. Killzone 3 and some space ship game were particularly impressive.

I don't think it was stupid at all. VR is the next big thing, though. 3D will continue to fall away.

 

[JPLC]

While the "3D" craze may have dried up, a lot of the technologies ended up assisting the VR/AR industries (even if it was just studios becoming familiar with 3D concepts ahead of time). Similar to how Kinect might have floundered in the gaming space, but the underlying technologies influenced a lot of general camera tech (also VR/AR).

 

[ClarkusDarkus]

3D was abandoned because VR was already showing signs and being worked on, So was a much easier thing to give up and focus on true actual innovation in VR/AR.

3D was still pancake panel gaming all things considered.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

VR is 3D all over again. If you need to go out of your way to own and put on devices that are incompatible with the outside world, you're doing it wrong. That's why AR games on mobile work (people already use their mobiles anyway) and why 3D and VR can never truly explode. 3D was actually fun when it was around, my main issue with it is that most games used it horribly, and so did movies. Avatar was the GOAT in 3D of course, after that it was mostly disappointments. TRON: Legacy has to be the one that hurts the most: that one had every element to be INSANE in 3D, then they went and shoot the digital sequences in 2D and the 5 minutes or so in real world in 3D. I felt insulted.

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You seem to be misunderstanding how VR works, and how it can work with further refinements. You can use augmented virtuality to fix the isolation in VR headsets while still being fully present in a virtual world. It's the sweetspot between VR and AR for maximizing immersion.

This is an example: