Retrofitting 3D Is Harder than Creating It from the Ground Up

3D could be the way to go for videogaming in the near future but it might be harder than gamers think to actually make three dimensions working for older titles.

Sony has already announced that it will put out a firmware update for the Japanese market on June 3, adding 3D capabilities for three games: Wipeout HD, Super Stardust HD and Pain. But it might be some time until we see other titles taking advantage of the new possibilities of the Sony gaming platform.

Simon Benson, who is the senior development manager at Sony, talked to the Official PlayStation Magazine about the new three dimensional gaming push, “I'm sure we will as adding 3D to a game can make it a whole new experience. Retrofitting 3D is actually harder than building 3D into a game from the outset. One of the big issues is that all of the game assets were designed to work with only one HD output. Being able to render them twice to make a 3D output can be a challenge.”

The Japanese giant has suggested that 3D capabilities will be added to all PlayStation 3 console before the end of 2010 but the company, although having shown quite a few titles working in three dimensions, has not offered a clear list of older titles that players will be able to again enjoy with one extra dimension to worry about.

The newly announced Killzone 3, which is worked on by Guerrilla Games, has been shown in 3D, the developers talking about making some sort of innovation in how the mode affects their experience. It's also safe to believe that cutting edge Sony studios, like Naughty Dog, responsible for Uncharted, are working on making a full three dimensional experience an integral part of their next project. We might hear more names and launch dates at the E3 trade show.