If there’s one clich� that stands head and shoulders above the rest for the 21st�century, it’s that the world is becoming a lot smaller these days. Bizarrely, this couldn’t be further from the truth, on a very basic level it’s the same size as ever before, and anyone who’s kept an eye on latest development in home entertainment will note that the world has gained an extra dimension, an increase of 33% on what we had before.
On the back of an Avatar inspired surge in 3D products and content (not to mention Europe’s first dedicated 3D TV station) 3D is probably the biggest buzzword in technology circles at the moment, not just because of the success of 3D films and the fact that manufacturers are chucking their considerable R&D weight into research, but because it also promises to capture the most rapidly growing market in the world: gaming.
For all that Avatar was a monstrous success, comfortably claiming the top position in the league entitled ‘biggest earning entertainment medium’, people seem to have rapidly forgotten that second in that position is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and with the next in the sequence due out, those sales figures could be on the verge of being dwarfed. Gaming. Is. Huge.
But what has this got to do with the world being (allegedly) smaller? Things move much faster these days, communication, people, technology, and everything is a lot more intertwined than it used to be.
Take 3D gaming, on paper it’s perfect. 3D televisions aren’t perfected, either you wear glasses (and it’s a bit of a drag) or you go for autostereoscopic (without glasses) and can only watch them from one position. What kind of demographic spends large periods of time alone or in small numbers, sitting directly before a screen? Bingo.
Hence the release of a range of 3D televisions and products perfectly suited for gamers. Except, there’s a problem. Going back to Modern Warfare 2, one of the great reasons for the success of the game was that the online system was amazing, people bought it to play against their friends (and complete strangers) over the net. For 3D images to work over the internet you need a seriously beefed up internet connection, and that’s where the whole thing could (temporarily) fall apart.
Up until the point that the UK, and the world for that matter, gets superfast internet, the potential of gaming and 3D gaming in particular is going to be limited. Modern gaming relies on the online mode, and if the online mode doesn’t work quick enough, or well enough, or is immersive enough, it’s game over. We’re, essentially, stuck in the loop, higher demand generally means incentive to provide more supply, but with the internet, it doesn’t quite work like that.
At the moment the best bet of getting a good internet connection is to go to Sky.com and buy one, but that probably wouldn’t handle remote 3D gaming at peak times. That’s a hardware issue, and until the government, or someone else, improves the hardware the world will remain only half able to use this new dimension that we’ve found.
