Gears of War 3 stereoscopic 3D announced

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 August, 2011

Epic confirms full 3D stereo coming to Xbox.

Upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War 3 includes the option to play in stereoscopic 3D, Epic Games has announced.

"We asked, could we do it?" executive producer Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer at a Gears of War 3 event in London.

"It felt like something we wanted to have. It was a feature we didn't want to be deficient in. When you look at Gears 1, it was what people used to demo HD at the time.

"It's still fledgling technology. It's still a niche feature. But it was something we could support, so we felt, why not?"

A handful of Xbox 360 games have launched under the "stereoscopic 3D" banner, including Crytek's Crysis 2 and Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops.

But the Xbox 360 does not, currently, output in 3D to the same degree as the PlayStation 3. That is, it does not output in full, HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic 3D in the 1280x1470 twin 720p framebuffer configuration.

Instead, the Xbox 360 renders using 3D techniques based on the principle of two distinct images crammed into one 720p framebuffer. This is how Gears of War 3's 3D effect works.

It also forces the game to run at a lower resolution. "It's a little bit jaggier in certain areas," Fergusson said. But the difference is "not huge". "Instead of 720p you're at five something," he explained.

"It was something that came in really late in our process. It wasn't something where we said, OK, we're going to design the game from the ground up for 3D. It was more of a post-process 3D, where we're like, OK, certain things need to be adjusted, but for the most part it generally works.

"It's great. I love the qualities it provides, the window into a world. That's what the 3D gives you. Having that depth of character, and being able to see that separation from the reticule and the creatures in the background – it's a different experience but it's a really good one."

Meanwhile, Fergusson confirmed Eurogamer's May story that revealed that full, PlayStation 3 level stereoscopic 3D is coming to the Xbox 360 – in effect a 720p image per eye.

"As you look forward, in the next XDKs [Xbox Development Kit] coming out of the Xbox, it'll have more support for 3D or more higher quality for native support for 3D," Fergusson said.

"We're supporting the current state of the art for Xbox. Moving forward, the Xbox will be able to take it further."

Fergusson's comments here suggest full stereo 3D on Xbox 360 will not be enabled until after Gears of War 3's 20th September launch.

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 (34) Latest comment 9 months ago

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

  • DavidBoring #1 9 months ago

    not bad, 5 gears of war news items - let the hype begin

  • Zomoniac #2 9 months ago

    Good stuff. Will this be designed for 3D properly like KZ3/Motorstorm/Tumble or have that sort of half-arsed shit 3D that Enslaved was retro-fitted with? Enslaved is the only 360 game I've played with stereoscopic and to say it was a bit shit compared to the best PS3 3D is an understatement. No idea if that's the console, the way it was bolted on after, or just it being designed badly by NT.

  • neilka #3 9 months ago

    I'll be alright with full resolution 2D thanks.

  • wizlon #4 9 months ago

    Not wanting to be fanboish but it does seem like they are being forced to do this to keep up with the ps3 ever expanding list of 3d titles.

  • Ranger101 #5 9 months ago

    @wizlon I think that's a fair comment - and I think you're right. Just from a "stats" perspective, ps3 already has blu-ray and 3D, and it makes sense for the 360, which has a '3D' input in the form of Kinect, to also have 3D output.

  • Pwnsweet #6 9 months ago

    3D at anything less than 1280x720 FOR EACH EYE is not worth doing in my opinion. The resolution hit is just too great otherwise. Killzone 3's 640x716 per eye is disgusting. Just for laughs I went and played the game in 3D on an LG passive 3D display. Because it uses FPR technology to create the 3D effect, the vertical resolution is halved, so you've only got 640x358 per eye instead of 640x716. It looked amazingly bad.

  • Scurrminator #7 9 months ago

    Stealth don't have 3DTVs posts in this thread it seems :-P

  • slippysloppy #8 9 months ago

    I look forward to people complaining about this feature, despite not paying extra for it and the choice whether or not to use it.

    I for one think this will look great on my 80" 3D home projector!

  • todoso #9 9 months ago

    And I quote:

    Don’t get all excited, dude. 3D is gay. Nobody wants to sit on a couch wearing glasses poppin’ bubbles out of the air like some sort of fucked up Ray Charles.

    From the great Kenny Powers.

  • jablonski #10 9 months ago

    wtf - FIVE Gears 'news' items in a row?
    Something wrong with putting it in one item?

  • edhe #11 9 months ago

    Digital Foundry - GO!

  • RodHull #12 9 months ago

    Given the choice, I'd choose a facelift bar over any form of 3D any day.

  • Slikz #13 9 months ago

    I'm pretty sure I would hate 3D too, if I couldn't afford one of those flashy tv's.

  • alcides #14 9 months ago

    "It felt like something we wanted to have. It was a feature we didn't want to be deficient in. When you look at Gears 1, it was what people used to demo HD at the time."

    Stament 1: pass.
    Statement 2: pass.
    Statement 3: sort of pass. I have the image of an incredibly detailed giant lobster busily maxillipeding at plankton.

  • Miths #15 9 months ago

    @Pwnsweet

    Yep, Killzone 3 has been the biggest letdown so far on my new 3DTV. Tremendous depth, but the resolution drop - and/or whatever other visual trade-offs are going on in 3D mode - make it look like a pretty ugly mess on my 51" screen.
    Other graphically intensive games in proper stereoscopic 3D (which excludes the half baked though acceptable implementation in Crysis 2) suffer various levels of visual trade-offs as well, though none as severe as KZ3.

    Based on my experiences so far I really don't think the current generation consoles have the necessary power to pull off stereoscopic 3D properly in the most visually demanding games. Hell, even the recently released HD remake of the six years old Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory suffers some framerate drops in 3D mode, although I'm guessing in that case it probably has more to do with questionable optimization rather than aging (soon ancient :)) hardware.

  • BradlayLaw #16 9 months ago

    This will be another 3d mode I try for 5 minutes before getting a headache and switching it off.

  • metallicorphan #17 9 months ago

    yay monday afternoon footy results

    Gears of War -5,Football Manager -3

  • stevethemeat #18 9 months ago

    "I look forward to people complaining about this feature, despite not paying extra for it and the choice whether or not to use it."

    "I for one think this will look great on my 80" 3D home projector!"

    What is it with these smug gits with their flashy screens telling us all how big they are, do you ever see anyone saying "this will look shit on my 15" black & white portable".

    We get it, you have a big TV, probably stolen during the recent riots, but a big TV nonetheless.

  • Psiloc #19 9 months ago

    Isn't normal PAL "5 something" resolution? Doesn't seem worth it.

  • madeinbeats #20 9 months ago

    So does that mean it's official now then? Stereoscopic 3D isn't a gimmick now? Someone please tell me, I can't keep up any more !!!!!

  • Architect_z #21 9 months ago

    Are MS just copying Sony then?

  • bikmate #22 9 months ago

    Isn't "five something" SD?

  • Collymilad #23 9 months ago

    I'll get a 3DTV when the next consoles come out.

    They are wasted on the current gen, not enough power.

  • madeinbeats #24 9 months ago

    "I'll get a 3DTV when the next consoles come out. They are wasted on the current gen, not enough power."

    I wouldn't hold your breath if they're updating dev kits again for 3D functions. Looks like the 360 & PS3 are going to be around for a few more years yet!

  • Miths #25 9 months ago

    "I'll get a 3DTV when the next consoles come out."

    While you wait for the next consoles, the 2D to 3D conversion feature in most 2011 3DTVs will do wonder for your porn collection :p. Or if you insist, just some of your regular movies, TV shows and perhaps even the occasional game.

  • Zomoniac #26 9 months ago

    Yep, Killzone 3 has been the biggest letdown so far on my new 3DTV. Tremendous depth, but the resolution drop - and/or whatever other visual trade-offs are going on in 3D mode - make it look like a pretty ugly mess on my 51" screen.

    Is that based on the demo or the full game? I played the 3D demo and the resolution was so low it hurt my eyes. Playing the full game ATM in 3D and it looks great. Resolution seems to have doubled since that demo.

  • dllord #27 9 months ago

    Great news the more 3D games the better i say

  • Miths #28 9 months ago

    @Zomoniac

    Full game. I've only spent perhaps a total of 20-30 minutes testing out a few singleplayer levels and MP maps in 3D though, but at least at the time - shortly after buying my 3DTV in May - I felt that was more than enough visual torture :).
    What size is your TV and how close do you sit? I'm a little over 2 meters from a 51" screen, so even proper 720p games - at least if it's without anti-aliasing - tend to look a little rough around the edges.
    Although the fact that I also spend a fair amount of my gaming time playing PC games at 1920x1200 on a 24" monitor at close range, may also have impacted my tolerance for very visible signs of low resolutions.

    I've been impressed by some 3D games though. WipEout HD still looks great and plays well even in 720p at 30 fps, and MotorStorm Apocalypse is probably the one among the graphically intensive games that pulls off 3D best with fewest obvious trade-offs.
    GT5 also looks good in 3D - aside from some potentially atrocious crosstalk inside the cockpit if you don't manage to find just the right combination of 3D settings - but then I've in all honesty never really considered that game among the truly "graphically intensive". It simply looks too bland and sterile for me to really accept that.

    And I'm also really thrilled that so many of the recent stream of "HD remakes" are getting the added bonus of 3D. At least most of those can be run in 3D without any graphical trade-offs.

  • greenthumb #29 9 months ago

    i dont have HDMI port on my xbox, pisses me right off. i refuse to buy a new one just for an HDMI port. fuck knows why they werent included from the start

  • Toothball #30 9 months ago

    Nice, three of my friends were trying to persuade me to catch up in time for this. As it happens I'm a sucker for 3D, so this is a great incentive. I do prefer 1080p per eye, but this is a decent enough start.

  • funkateer #31 9 months ago

    "I went and played the game in 3D on an LG passive 3D display. Because it uses FPR technology to create the 3D effect, the vertical resolution is halved, so you've only got 640x358 per eye instead of 640x716."

    That's not really correct though, to be pedantic. On those passive screens, it halves the *maximum* vertical resolution per eye to 540p. It doesn't affect the game's internal framebuffer size, so you still get 640x540 per eye.

  • Ryze #32 9 months ago

    @Psiloc

    (up to)720x576i(nterlaced) is SD, but many consoles generally displayed lower resolutions.

    It won't look amazing in terms of detail, and will likely have frame rate and aliasing issues too. I can't wait for digital foundry to break it down.

    If it turns out smooth, then that's a win really, as it'll take the next gen to get full 720p or 1080p 3D modes in these types of games without serious sacrifices in visual fidelity.

  • Murton #33 9 months ago

    "I do prefer 1080p per eye" - sorry to burst your bubble but you haven't played anywhere near as many true 1008p games as you think you may have. Despite being in the 6th year of the HD generation there are still an alarming number of sub-HD games coming out that rely on the console hardware to upscale to HD and if upscaling is good enough for your 2D gaming, why wouldn't it be for 3D gaming?

    Looking at the days comments I'm confused. Almost every previous 3D article has had the typical "gimmmick" "nobody wants it" "headache" BS from fanboys who need to invent excuses for why they don't want a 3DTV rather than simply be secure in their own decision not to get one, wonder if that's because this one concerns a 360 exclusive. /cynical gamer

  • tazket #34 9 months ago

    3D of KZ3 does suck badly. Resolution dorp is not the worst part, pop-in is. So far it's the worst 3D experience i had on my PS3....