Sony: 3D not right for portable devices

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 27 January, 2011

Looked at it for NGP, decided against it.

Sony is pushing stereoscopic 3D hard – in televisions and in games on the PlayStation 3 – but the feature is absent from the recently announced Next Generation Portable.

While Sony explored stereoscopic 3D for the NGP, it decided against its inclusion. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Andrew House explained why in a new interview conducted this morning in Tokyo.

"We view 3D as having the greatest potential, in the near term, in what I would call a dedicated entertainment environment," he said.

"And that's in the home, around the television, and where it's a shared experience. I think that's really important. We struggle a little bit to see how that 3D, shared experience translates to portable devices as they currently stand."

In a statement, Sony revealed more detail on its exploration of the tech.

"In the development process, we had studied the possibility of introducing stereoscopic 3D feature to NGP, but decided not to install it. After careful consideration of our goal of offering users the ultimate portable entertainment experience with a revolutionary user interface we have decided to focus on the features and specs announced today first.

"SCE will continue to play an important role within Sony group by promoting 3D in tandem with Sony Corporation's 3D compatible BRAVIA LCD TVs to deliver the sublime 3D entertainment in the living room and without having to go to the cinema. We will continue our effort to provide users with true 3D entertainment experience that only Sony can deliver."

The absence of 3D from the NGP is made all the more noticeable by Nintendo's glasses-free 3DS, due out in March.

While House admitted the NGP is "in competition" with 3DS, he insisted it has more than enough features to stand out.

"I know you'll think me coy, but our wish when we enter markets is to grow the overall market and landscape, and find new audiences. So in that space, I think we're more or less generally competing for consumers' time, and that's where we place the highest premium.

"It's our job to deliver fantastic experiences that merit the consumers' investment of their time with our devices.

"We feel very confident that we have very sufficiently differentiated ourselves from the competition with spec, and in particular the connectivity and network features and interfaces that are all pretty revolutionary. That will set this device apart."

Sony will roll out the NGP worldwide from late 2011. Pricing is yet to be announced.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 1 year ago

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

  • MPNalex #1 1 year ago

    Is this the same Sony that laughed at motion controls, then revealed the sixaxis - they were working on it all along *cough* - and stated that rumble was a last generation thing, then released the Dual Shock 3 later on and in the end introduced Move as well? Not to mention the Sony that indeed applauded Nintendo for their 3D efforts?

    Dunnow, I'm sure the NGP will be an amazing device regardless of 3D, but Sony does have a track record of saying alot and ultimately doing something different.

    Just saying.
    Edited by MPNalex at 27/01/11 @ 17:11

  • dadrester #2 1 year ago

    touch + 3D on the same screen would seem counter-productive.

  • MPNalex #3 1 year ago

    @dadrester

    Good point, forgot about that :)

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #4 1 year ago

    Well, they've put a lot of motion sensors into this thing, and changing angles utterly kills parallax barrier 3D - a fact which some previews of 3DS games have made mention of already.

    Edit: also, touch + 3D, I've tried it on a Sharp Galapagos Android phone, and it fucks with your eyes (and the 3D effect) good and proper. Although the touchscreen-on-the-back could overcome that particular problem.
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 27/01/11 @ 17:17

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #5 1 year ago

    3D with touch n the back would be amazing tho as you could push things closer to yourself

  • sfp_noodle #6 1 year ago

    Nintendo has already confirmed 3D won't be forced on developers so I expect the majority of 3DS titles to be in 2D with only first party Nintendo titles and big third party titles such as the ones from Capcom, Konami etc to be in 3D. I don't think the NGP is missing anything really as the majority of people see 3D as a gimick anyway.

  • LazyDan #7 1 year ago

    "Competitor's strategy not right" says competitor.

  • Makeem95 #8 1 year ago

    Thank god. Didn't want 3D shit polluting the PSP2.

  • Lord-Nicon #9 1 year ago

    After advertising everything with 3d, they come up with this.., sony is just like a little kid, crying for his candy.. admit it, Nintendo took a step up with the 3D and best of all, without glasses!!

  • nixc9 #10 1 year ago

    As I commented in another tread, I would not be so sure that 3D has been entirely ruled out of NGP.
    If the display has a high enough refresh rate, they could always introduce active-shutter glasses as an accessory, if they find out that there's market for 3D

    (unless GPU technology has some other limitations which I am not aware of?)

  • evild_edd #11 1 year ago

    Sony says 3D is only good "where it's a shared experience".....what, like you can share the experience with people in the living room. As long as you have enough glasses. And don't suffer from a lazy eye. And etc,etc.......

    Still not sure whether 3D will ever catch-on in the way some expect. Still a bit 'gimmicky' (I'm with Mark Kermode - "Hello Jason Isaacs!";) on this in films. More people will own 3D TVs eventually, but only in the same way the HD uptake has happened with people just replacing dying old sets....

    N.b. there will always be tech-hungry gadget types (and fair play to them!), but my comments above are with regards to the mass market.

  • carrotcake #12 1 year ago

    Like LazyDan said, basically what we aren't doing is wrong, but we will entirely change our tune about the viability of portable 3D as soon as we do it. "When we launched NGP, 3D screens weren't mature enough. Now is the right time to provide an immersive 3D experience." They can do a new model with a different screen later on if they really want to. I doubt they would do anything that needs glasses; that would look very inferior to 3DS.

  • arcam #13 1 year ago

    I think 3D has a much better chance of making mass market with games rather than films.

    The question I always people extolliung the virtues of £D movies is: "Would you want to watch Goodfellas in 3D, or Magnolia, or Clerks?". Usually that's a 'no'.

  • INSOMANiAC #14 1 year ago

    1 Interview, 3 articles. Classic Eurogamer

  • SeesThroughAll #15 1 year ago

    Well, at least they're not saying it's so last gen. :p

  • Red-Moose #16 1 year ago

    Motion controls are also garbage

    As is dual shock - who on earth would want that in the PS3

    I think what Sony really means "we have been unable to develop or buy from outside a good enough 3D IP for portables that will allow us to compete in the market".

  • _LarZen_ #17 1 year ago

    PSP2 is outdated even before it launches....

  • Geowolf #18 1 year ago

    B*****ks!

    To summarise what we've learned today. Sony unveiled a PSP with a turbo strapped to it and the ability to know when you give it a comforting pat on the back.

    "There, there NGP. That'll do, that'll do."


    And of course, both portables have moved into ridiculous battery life life territories. Who knew that the Atari Lynx failed because it was too forward thinking when we all thought it was the rubbish battery life.

    But importantly, which format should parents get for there little tykes amusement when going on holiday. Well both formats will last the car journey, may last the airport, however they'll both likely be flat by the time you board the plane. Happy screaming kids to drive you mad on your 6 hours journey to the states.

    Seems to me that both Nintendo and Sony have forgotten the whole point of portable gaming!!!

  • Katanax #19 1 year ago

    If the screen refreshes at 120Hz+ then there's no reason 3D couldn't be patched in later on, though admittedly you'd need to carry around a pair of shutter glasses.

    Perhaps even a custom 2D/3D upscaler could be developed if it turns out there is demand but not enough processing power to render both viewpoints at full resolution - whether it be through an official firmware patch, or later on if and when George has a play*...

    *Disclaimer - not advocating Piracy, but it'd be naive to think no-ones going to try and hack this thing. Hmmn, does it support OtherOS? ;)

  • fizzyfish #20 1 year ago

    @dadrester
    touch + 3D on the same screen would seem counter-productive.
    Not if the user interface is always displayed in 2D at the screen's surface (with the rest of the scene in "into-the-screen" 3D).

    With the NGP, developers could have even displayed translucent floating representations of any virtual buttons (via the trackpad on the back of the unit) at the apparent depth of the handheld unit into the scene, to fool your brain into thinking there really is something under your fingertips.

  • Dizzy #21 1 year ago

    Looks like Sony got it backwards.

  • Reedo #22 1 year ago

    dadrester hit the nail on the head. Nintendo themselves said that touch screen wouldn't seem right with 3D. It just seems a bit childish of them to say that 3D isn't right for handhelds.

    They could have just said that they wanted to focus on the interface rather than 3D. Instead they're doing what they've always done - taken poor snipes at their competitors whilst forgetting to give their own hard work the recognition and hype it deserves.

  • MARKIV #23 1 year ago

    Why does 3D have to be "shared experience", these guys are just like politicians!!

  • Power_n_Glory #24 1 year ago

    I agree, with Sony but won't waste my money again on handhelds. Just got the new Ipod Touch and games are dirt cheap. All I need is one entertainment device that can fit in my pocket and keep me entertained for 15 to 20 minutes while I travel to work. Music, books, cheap games, a Eurogamer app....it does the job. Ninetendo are still charging £30 for games that are 5 years old.

    Nintendo and Sony can't ignore Apple or the mobile market. Eurogamer wrote a good feature on this.

  • Miths #25 1 year ago

    I like Sony (or their products at least :)) and I fully intend to buy a 3D TV this year as my eyes are totally and utterly in love with this visual "gimmick", but how the hell is 3D supposed to be better as a "shared experience"?
    When I've watched 3D movies at the cinema I certainly haven't cared about the people in the other seats, I've been busy watching the screen. And I also can't quite see how the 3D effects on a 3D TV - or other 3D screen - at home, should be lessened by me being the only person looking at the screen?

  • canIdoyabombsforya #26 1 year ago

    Full blown console games are also unsuitable for portables, but Sony seem determined to shoehorn them in there.

  • RodHull #27 1 year ago

    Just like rumble wasn't right for the PS3?

  • Smoped #28 1 year ago

    3D has always been, and still is, a gimmick. Gimmicks can still be fun though, especially in moderation, like,say, on a handheld console. Or maybe it's just me, but watching the telly in my living room wearing stupid goggles would make me feel like an idiot. At least in the movie theater nobody can see you in the dark.

  • xentar #29 1 year ago

    dadrester is absolutely right - touchscreen means not only games will require you to have fingers on the screen form time to time which would disrupt the image but more importantly the screen would get all messy soon and thats a kiler for 3D effect

    And then there is something different and extremely important - screen resolution. I didnt have the chance to see 3DS in persona nd I couldnt find any info on screen resolution but from what I have seen at CES2011 the no glases 3D screens were all insanely low resolution. If PSP2 goes for mature high performance gaming, 3D is out of the picture with todays technology for 5" high resolution screen.

  • Smoped #30 1 year ago

    Serious question regarding resolution: At what point are we talking about diminishing returns? When the screen is a couple of inches, does the difference between, say, 1080p and 720p make any real difference?

  • coolbritannia #31 1 year ago

    Sony pushing the same old line, I don't believe a word they say. 3DS will hammer them.

  • JohnnyHD #32 1 year ago

    I'm going to bookmark this page so I can refer to it six months after the launch of the NGP when Sony releases an updated 3D enabled version.

  • monkfishjoe #33 1 year ago

    Because handhelds have traditionally been shared experiences...

    Oh dear Sony.
    Edited by monkfishjoe at 27/01/11 @ 20:01

  • Power_n_Glory #34 1 year ago

    I'm far from impressed with all this 3D stuff. It's too early and it's a gimmick at the moment. Avatar is the only film I've seen in 3D and from what I've heard, it's the only one worth watching in 3D. They're moving too fast with all this 3D stuff and skipping ahead a generation when HD and Blu Ray have barely kicked off.

    3D should have been left for the cinema's for a period. If they kept that exclusive, took time to develop quality 3D films, people would maybe start going back to the cinema again. Instead, they've brought it straight to TV and soon people won't feel the need to go to the cinema and they'll just wait for it to come on TV.

    As for Nintendo, they're jumping on this because they were the first to bring touch technology to the masses, same goes for motion control and now they want to do the same for 3D.

  • javvyman #35 1 year ago

    3D is clearly the future of the film, television and now game industry.
    The first thought of application goes straight to gaming for me, and i'm sure most people would agree. So whether people agree with it or not, it IS going to revolutionise gaming, and it is here to stay.
    The 3DS is a step ahead in my opinion as it doing so without the need for glasses, which is a slight turnoff in the other mediums and applications.
    Of course, we'll have to to see in a couple of years whether glasses free 3D is viable with current tech, but there is no denying it is the future, and Nintendo must be commended for going full tilt with this.
    Edited by javvyman at 27/01/11 @ 20:08

  • Widge #36 1 year ago

    RE: 1080p vs 720p, you really only start to get into differences at sizes 37" and above really, depending on your distance to the thing you are viewing.

  • jackdoe #37 1 year ago

    To be honest, I prefer an OLED screen to a glasses-free 3D screen. 3D gives me migraines up the wazoo.

  • spekkeh #38 1 year ago

    I can imagine you'd go crosseyed if you put your finger in front of a 3d screen to navigate, therefore it would also just not work with the NGP. But I'm not sure, could anyone who's going to play on a 3DS in the foreseeable future check this out?

  • funkateer #39 1 year ago

    "And that's in the home, around the television, and where it's a shared experience. I think that's really important. We struggle a little bit to see how that 3D, shared experience translates to portable devices as they currently stand."

    There are so many logic flaws in there, I don't know where to start.
    So does it mean if you have shiny new bravia 3DTV, it doesn't work so well if you watch 3D content alone? Damn, that sucks.

  • funkateer #40 1 year ago

    Nevertheless, there will probably be some smart studio that implements pseudo 3D using headtracking with NGP's camera helped by the G-Sensors. No glasses required, no headaches. I bet Sony won't dismiss it then ;)

  • makeamazing #41 1 year ago

    To be honest i dont want a 3D TV, but i would want a 3D handheld even less, and some of the comments that have come back about the 3DS 3D, doesnt tell me that i should think any differently right now. Releases/games will be the defining point... but for me, i dont feel that 3D in a handheld is necessary.

  • JamieR #42 1 year ago

    Both handhelds seem awesome but I'm a uncharted fan and if i was to get one id have to go ngp but ill probably get neither.

  • charming_fox #43 1 year ago

    Whinge whinge fucking moan

  • DrStrangelove #44 1 year ago

    "SCE will continue to play an important role within Sony group by promoting 3D in tandem with Sony Corporation's 3D compatible BRAVIA LCD TVs to deliver the sublime 3D entertainment in the living room and without having to go to the cinema. We will continue our effort to provide users with true 3D entertainment experience that only Sony can deliver."

    lol. LCD with shutter glasses is the worst 3D experience you can get, except for that old red/green crap maybe. Sony hypes 3D but commits itself to half-baked tech. Others are improving 3D quickly and massively to a point where it might even be desirable, and Sony apparently just stands there watching. This undecided poor-choice zigzag is so typical. Sony started the race, but stopped after one lap, thinking it already won.

    Another big facepalm for Sony's growing collection there.

  • _LarZen_ #45 1 year ago

    Is it just me or is Sony just acting realy strange about the whole 3D part? I mean they are the pusher of 3D but at the same time they dont implement it in something that in Sony's eyes is the best handheld gaming device in the world.

    It's not right to have 3D on a portable device that you usaly watch alone close up to your face, but its right to have a tv where everyone who wants to watch need 3D glasses?

    Come on!!

    I have not personaly tested the Nintendo 3DS, but the people that have say its realy good and that the pictures of games dont show how good the games look even in 2D.

    Rumors on the web about Apple pushing for 3D is alsow something to think about, what if Apple launches a 3D iPad? Or iPod Toutch?

    There is something fishy going on at Sony, I dont belive a word they say about 3D not being right for portable devices.

  • CallousB #46 1 year ago

    Surely if you want a shared 3D experience on a 3DS.....you just need to play against someone else in the same room who has another 3DS?

    I mean you can't have a shared 3D experience on a 3DTV...if you only have one pair of 3D glasses.

  • savant #47 1 year ago

    "Is it just me or is Sony just acting realy strange about the whole 3D part? I mean they are the pusher of 3D but at the same time they dont implement it in something that in Sony's eyes is the best handheld gaming device in the world."

    Sony is in the market to sell 3D TVs, which is why we're hearing about 'shared experiences' being best for 3D. It's just PR crap.

    As for 'well, we tried it and it doesn't work very well', yeah, this is coming from the company which has so far passed on controller-based motion control (then brought it back in the PS3's sixaxis and removed rumble...then brought that back), touch screens (then changed their minds with new NGP), and Kinect-style hand-wavey control (then brought out a wiimote/eyetoy hybrid instead). Sony seems almost schizophrenic at times.
    Edited by savant at 28/01/11 @ 05:32

  • dfooster #48 1 year ago

    This article reads to me like this: our device is already f*****g well expensive as it is and adding 3D will mean we Won't shift enough units to justify the loss we are making on each unit anyway.

  • dloob #49 1 year ago

    Seems fair, the most common line in the 3DS game previews seems to be "works better with the 3d turned off".
    Reports from CES indicated that the glasses free tvs were pretty crap as well, the glasses free tech isn't ready yet, give it a few years.

  • 360KID #50 1 year ago

    Give it a few DECADES more like! Seriously, 3D isn't all that. It wasn't in the last few generations and it still isn't now. I don't wanna know about it until I've got hollograms running around my livingroom and hiding behind my sofa, just leave it allone till you can do that please!

    @dloob +1

  • Quak #51 1 year ago

    Yeah sure, just like you experimented with touchscreens but decided not to include them in the original PSP - and look what happened there.

    The next PSP will obviously have 3D screens.