LittleBigPlanet 2 won't have 3D - Sony

By Robert Purchese Published 3 December, 2010

"Sorry."

Sony has pulled a U-turn on its decision to include stereoscopic 3D in upcoming PS3 exclusive LittleBigPlanet 2.

On the US PlayStation blog, Sony's Mark Valledor informed a reader: "Sorry, no 3D this time around."

LittleBigPlanet 2 was one of the games Sony listed as a headline PS3 torch-carrier at E3 this summer. Why Sony and Media Molecule have decided against the visual output of the future we'll endeavour to find out.

LittleBigPlanet 2 missed an autumn 2010 release. The new date of January allows Media Molecule time to polish the game's online multiplayer and iron out any bugs.

That US PS blog-post points out that the online servers are now "almost done", and that a final phase of beta testing will happen next week - with fresh invites sent out for participants.

Later in December, on 22nd, a Story Mode demo will be plopped out. But before then, Sony's due to release a PlayStation Move-specific download called Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves. Inside will be 10 dinosaur-themed levels engineered by Terrance Dactyl, the old reptile.

The idea is for the person with the Move controller to flick switches to help people using the normal PS3 pad controls to progress. That Prehistoric idea sorry Moves game is coming to PlayStation Plus 8th December and everyone else on 14th December.

John Teti makes his own LBP2 trailer for Eurogamer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • lambtron #1 1 year ago

    That's odd - I would have thought this was perfect for 3D. Not that it's really that important, not many people have 3D television.

  • Fab4 #2 1 year ago

    Makes more sense, from a marketing point of view, to keep it back for LittleBigPlanet 3...D.

  • Zomoniac #3 1 year ago

    How odd. I'd have thought it would really benefit, given how confusing the three-level plane of depth can be at times.

  • JamesG #4 1 year ago

    I'm a little confused as to why console games need any specific 3D support. In my experience of Nvidia 3D (other than it being decidedly unimpressive) is that its able to easily adapt pretty much any 3D game you throw at it, only occasionally having interface issues. After all, the graphics card is already getting all that 3D information for the purpose of rendering your normal 2D.

    I can only suppose that some of the post processing performed on the images after rendering causes some issues when applied to 3D, or else perhaps Sony's graphics drivers are not quite as versatile as Nvidia's.

  • ant72 #5 1 year ago

    I think there is quite a bit of 2D trickery in LBP.

  • peterfll #6 1 year ago

    Awww shucks.

  • RodHull #7 1 year ago

    Oh dear, guess Mrs Hull has to go back to suicide watch duties again.

  • levitate #8 1 year ago

    Doesn't matter, I'd play this game any day. No matter if it's 2,3 or 4D. Well, erm, maybe if it's 4D. It might cause some disruptions to the time-space continuum and stuff, but it might be worth it in the end. I know it's worth it. In the end, that is.

  • ShiftyGeezer #9 1 year ago

    LBP2 already has a dubious framerate, though much improved in the latest Beta. Given the close viewing distances, hacks like 2.5D likely won't work at all well. It'd have to be full sterescopic rendering, twice the rendering effort. thus working in a 3D rendering system will be so demanding, cutbacks will be needed somewhere, which may just be too ugly even if workable (SD resolution?). It's a shame, but the horsepower just isn't there.

    @JameG : There are different types of 3D, and 3D as a post process isn't very good, but can be applied to any image. It woudln't work for LBP given lots of edge-on surfaces, where one eye would see a side of the wall, and the other eye wouldn't seeing only the face towards the camera. LBP is full of these situations as the camera is so close to the geometry, uin contrast to shooters and races and the like. Plus modern GPUs have cycles to spare, whereas PS3 is being fully taxed by 2D LBP2 without more being asked of it!

  • StolenGlory #10 1 year ago

    I'm sure this would probably matter to me if I thought that 3D actually contributed anything worthwhile to my gaming experience.

  • Dolly #11 1 year ago

    Considering that Sony are pushing 3D so hard, this is a bit of a silly backtrack on such a high profile title :/

  • Dizzy #12 1 year ago

    Feature nobody cares about dropped? No need to say sorry.

  • WiZZyWiGG #13 1 year ago

    This is better news than them saying its delayed again at least!

  • GamesConnoisseur #14 1 year ago

    No need to say sorry as long as they are properly focused on developing a great game, rather than being diverted and rushed out 3D feature with a weaker game.

    Also not everyone who ll get LBP2 will be able to enjoy 3D... not for a couple of years or so!

    Aye re making more sense to implement it fully for LBP3D!

  • technotica #15 1 year ago

    Nobs!

  • lockload #16 1 year ago

    When the company pushing 3d to the max removes it you know something is wrong

  • coolbritannia #17 1 year ago

    More Sony lies then /UK Resistance

  • natashaspice #18 1 year ago

    @coolbritannia troll get back in your cage.

  • Ryze #19 1 year ago

    Ooooh - what've they done here? This would be ideal for 3D support.

    Shame.

  • JahB #20 1 year ago

    'I'm a little confused as to why console games need any specific 3D support.

    most console games are made to run at 30fps. you need 60fps (30 for each eye) to achieve a stereoscopic 3D effect, so unless the developer implements some sort of 3D mode (usually done by lowering the resolution across the board), the hardware would not be able to output the existing content at a high enough framerate to give you 3D.

    even if you have a 60fps game (i.e. black ops or grant turismo), you still need to change the display mode to get 3D working, which needs to be implemented by the developer as a menu option.

    either way, lots of work for the 6 ppl that actually have 3D tv's by now...

  • andromeda #21 1 year ago

    sorry Mark Valledor,

    I think you have me confused with someone who GIVES A FUCK.

  • M_of_the_sys #22 1 year ago

    I didn't know "Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves" was coming out before Christmas!!

    /adds to Santa list
    Edited by M_of_the_sys at 03/12/10 @ 11:25

  • Subquest #23 1 year ago

    @JamesG, Shiftygeezer - you have negative opinions of Nvidia 3D vision ("decidedly unimpressive";) and retro-fitted 3D respectively. All I can tell you is that in my experience, there are many older games which respond very well to it. For example I've rediscovered Oblivion which (after various texture mods) looks stunning and is incredibly atmospheric in 3D.

    When there are problems with some games, they are usually never problems with the 3D effect per se - problems are usually things like shadow meshes, cursors and icons. Games made with 3D vision in mind usually don't give an improved 3D effect, they have just worked at eradicating these defects.

    There's absolutely no way 3D vision at least (I haven't experienced console 3D yet) could be called 'decidedly unimpressive' - it's quite the opposite.

  • DrStrangelove #24 1 year ago

    Probably frame rate issues again. It seems to me that current gen isn't fit for 3D, at least not in big titles which challenge the hardware in 2D already. I mean, you have to buy an expensive new TV, you have to wear those odd glasses, you lose image quality (most notably brightness), the resolution is usually reduced. And then the frame rate is cut by half, which is a serious blow for most games. I wanted to get a 3DTV despite the drawbacks, but since I know just how bad the frame rate is affected, I lost my interest.

    I also don't see why 3D would be important for LBP, since it lacks 3D gameplay. It's a 2D platformer with three layers which aren't hard to tell apart.

    Super Mario could make very good use of 3D, because judging the position/distance of objects is a constant issue there. But I'm not sure if they're planning one for the Playstation.
    Edited by DrStrangelove at 03/12/10 @ 11:49

  • slippysloppy #25 1 year ago

    3D for Sony is ticking a box and getting in there first, it's not quite as relevant to most gamers though I expect this will come as a huge disappointment to 3DTV owners hungry for content.

    Personally I'm looking forward to Move support most, as I have a controller sitting there that I really want to use.

  • layleeloo #26 1 year ago

    Who cares. What percentage of PS3 owners have a 3DTV at this moment in time. Id be surprised it was even 5% so not worth it in development costs.

  • Lee_Morris #27 1 year ago

    I'd imagine MM and Sony would look to patch it in.

    By all accounts the 3D did have a positive influence on play in regards to being to better distinguish between the 3 planes.

  • Lee_Morris #28 1 year ago

    I'd imagine MM and Sony would look to patch it in.

    By all accounts the 3D did have a positive influence on play in regards to being to better distinguish between the 3 planes.

  • man.the.king #29 1 year ago

    More than any other game, LBP is a series that cries out for the 3D treatment, with it's three planes of action. I'd been really looking forward to playing this on my 3DTV. Oh well...

    What were the reasons for no 3D? Did they decide it would not have been doable with the current level of tech and/or the manner in which they are using the hardware?