The world gaming world is riding the crest of a 3D wave at the moment, with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all moving into that space in the near future. Nintendo, however, is the only console manufacturer to be bringing three dimensions to the portable space, but company president Satoru Iwata has revealed its next home console will likely offer 3D as well.
Speaking to Japanese paper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Mr Iwata said the company is waiting until the adoption rate of 3D televisions sets is over 30%, which doesn't hint at a release any time soon. That said, it's worth bearing in mind that 3D gaming arrived on PlayStation 3 with a system update rather than a hardware revision, so the console could reach the market earlier and receive its 3D gaming switch-on via the Internet.
This also means the next home console is almost certain to support HDMI output as that's how 3D signals are best carried, pointing the way to a HD-enabled Wii.
Although these are certainly not concrete plans, Mr Iwata emphasised the firm's commitment to 3D gaming, stating it will become the "mainstream of gaming". Considering the widespread acclaim heaped upon the unveiling of 3DS, Nintendo is surely keen to repeat that with a 3D-enabled version of its most successful home console ever.
[source andriasang.com]
Comments 40
So much for Reggie´s "no glases" joke =P Screw sunglasses, long live 3DS!
I wonder how he wants to pull off 3D on home consoles.
No way Nintendo would specify on a TV screen, that would kill too much sales.
I'm not spending £1000 on a 3D television.
But if the 3DS's 3D aspect was utilised because it's a portable console, and you wouldn't want to be wearing 3D glasses in public, why can't the Wii3D (a home console) just use glasses as an option at least.
I'll assume Nintendo won't be forcing people to shell out for a 3D TV to play their Wii3D anyway, with the option to play in 2D.
This might be going a little to far.
@JakobG The real problem with 3D TV standards is the glasses not the device. The "WiiHD" end of 3D has already been standardised in the newest version of HDMI (v1.4) so they don't need to specify a screen.
To be perfectly honest.... I hope 3D and HD aren't the only things Nintendo has in mind for their next home console. Its a bit early to speculate yet but I hope, I still hope, that they push to bring back "cartridges". Optical disks are still the biggest performance bottleneck in consoles...... and to the person about to bring up "N64 vs PS", 3DS game cards will be bigger in capacity than UMDs and I am willing to bet they will also load much faster at a not-much-greater cost
I know nobody who has upgraded to a 3d tv for this crap or anyone who cares to. Notice Sony just briefly mentioned 3d in there entire press conference. Maybe that is because this 3d stuff isn't selling? I can afford the upgrade but could care less about it!
"This also means the next home console is almost certain to support HDMI.."
That's not "almost" certain, it's 100 % certain.
If the saturation of 3D TVs ever gets to 30%, I'll eat my hat.
Unless we get a new standard in delivering 3D pictures in the meantime: until those hardware specs say "HDMI output included" I'm going to leave myself some wiggle room on the predictions
I'm not (yet) convinced by 3D gaming on a home console, it's going to mean glasses and a small(ish) viewing angle. Not exactly in keeping with how we currently play games.
HD however, was a no-brainer
Nintendo, please don't give us a HD Wii or 3D wii, we want something new!
Until home sets find a method for glasses-free viewing by several people at once, I don't want anything to do with it. It's like the earliest HD sets all over again (crappy LCDs with lag, terrible colors, and etc), ie. pushing out tech before it's fully ready. It's not ready so long as you need to wear glasses to flip out every other frame for each eye.
I'll just get a 3DS, a wall mount and set of binoculars for each person. Much cheaper.
Unless 3DTV prices go down by the next Nintendo Console,I don't see this taking off I'm afraid.
The 3DS only woks without goggles in 3D because your eyes are far enough apart and close enough in proportion to the screen that it is feasible to produce a tiny screen that beam separate images to each eye. You can't separately beam images to a half dozen persons left/right eyes sitting off in a room somewhere, without some type of filtering technology over each eye, whether active or passive. Theaters use expensive active projectors and silk screens to allow for cheap disposable passive eyewear. These technology would be prohibitively expensive for home use, which is why they use cheaper consumer display tech with active goggles. Prices will drop considerably over the next few years. Seriously, 3D goggles are not that bad. I wear glasses every day of my life, and most of the time, hardly realize I'm wearing them. They give me 20/20 vision. Without corrective lenses, I can't legally drive a vehicle or even read the menu at a restaraunt. The cheap throwaway theater glasses cause minor discomfort because they don't really seat well on top of my prescription eyeglasses, but then ten minutes into the movie, or as soon as stuff starts jumping out of the screen at me, I forget I'm wearing them. We've had 3D surround sound available in home theater for over ten years (Dolby digital 5.1 and up). It's time 3D video caught up with it's sound siblings.
Who knows, surely they've got more up their sleeves than just 3D for the next console. Perhaps the games will require Nintendo's own special glasses that allow the game to see where the player is in order to use head tracking? Would couple very nicely with the 3D effect...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
I don't think Nintendo can wait until 3D TVs have that sort of install rate before releasing a Wii2. If you look at what sort of games on PS3 have Move support, you can see how dated the tech is, and it will take a LONG time to get that large a base of 3D TVs given how expensive they are.
I'm guessing it will be 3D ready at launch, then they'll just hold off on developing games that utilize it until enough people have 3D.
didnt i read somewhere that the Gamecube was originally built for 3D but they never used it, and the Wii is spose to be Gamecube plus maybe they left it out in the revision.
maybe by then a glasses free 3d tv will come out, but just as expensive as the 3d tvs are now, you know how they do this stuff...
I think Nintendo did the right decision by not introducing it to the Console since even though Playstation 3 will get it first, you have to think about the investment as well buying a new Sony Bravia HDTV and 3D Glasses, i know for a fact that's already above 1000 dollars in investment not counting Playstation 3 and the 3D Glasses irritate my brain so not really my thing but 3DS show no Glasses so i'm hyped for it.
really not interested in getting a 3-D TV. really hope that nintendo doesn't force me to in order to play a core title!
Thing i don't understand is that i remember watching Michael Jackson in 3d twenty years ago at home with the red and blue glasses. I think it was the super bowl halftime show. Hdtv was unheard of then. Why now all the expensive upgrading?
3D will probably be much more affordable when Nintendo finally releases a new system in like 10 years. lol
Nintendo plays catch up because they have cost in mind. 3D will be cheap when they finally support it. Just like HD.
Iwata was once said that the Gamecube was ready for create 3D images but because of the use of glasses they never used it and discarded that option. So, until they make a 3D TV without glasses, I doubt we'll see a nintendo home console that supports it.
I just can't see 3D gaming be a succes unless it's with the 3DS. You only buy a new handheld and you're ready to go. Now you need to have a tv that can display 3D images and you need to have glasses on all the time just to see the effect. So unless the technology will get much better, I don't see it being succesful.
The Wii-2 is coming then, OK!
It's inevitable, but as long as it's on par with the other systems in terms of power so we quit getting screwed out of other Multi-HD-Platform titles, I'll be okay with whatever they put out. But if 3D does come, I hope they can figure out the 3D without glasses for consoles.
Please stop this 3D rubbish! There's no way I'm going to buy into it simply because I'm not going to wear glasses every time I have to play a game. 3DS is great - it doesn't requires glasses and it's even optional. There is no way I'll ever buy a 3D TV even if they become cheap and in everyone's homes - I'll wear the glasses for the odd cinema trip but that's it.
WHEN??? WHEN???!!!!
I'm with everyone here on the 3D skepticism bandwagon. I doubt the 3D TVs are going to become the standard anytime soon, so basing a console on it seems foolish.
I keep hoping that Nintendo will get a couple year jump on the console release now that they are a generation behind in graphics. They can stay a generation behind and still match the current console competition.
I guess Nintendo isn't feeling much pressure from the other guys, though. This is the last round of Mario/Zelda/Metroid I want to have to endure with low-res screen and textures. Love the games, but finer visuals can make them more enjoyable and more accessible.
3D? As long as it's optional, I'm happy.
@fox
It only seems foolish if you think Nintendo is releasing a console anytime soon. This article suggests to me that Nintendo wants to wait until Sony and Microsoft are ready to release a new console, too, They may need 3D to sell the visuals as the generational difference in visuals seems to be narrowing quickly.
"Nintendo 3D"
or NES 3D
Well, what's the adoption rate of 3D sets currently?
Just team up with Sony and you can dominate the world.
JK, you don't need Sony to do that..........
30% 3D TV adoption rate says nothing, since I have NO idea how the adoption rate is going... What could it be in Sweden right now? Like 0.0005 percent? I doubt it's much higher in many other countries... Sadly. But at least that means I know I should wait with replacing my fatscreen TV!
@SanderEvers.... nope, Sony and Microsoft HAVE 3D already with Avatar starting it and now Sony has tons of 3D stuff already available as of last week!
this is great, since by the time Nintendo gets a new 3D console, the TV market will get a lower cost also
Making a console support stereoscopic 3D is fairly trivial, as all of the technology is in the glasses. All that is needed for 3D display with shutter glasses is:
The only thing preventing the current Wii from supporting stereo 3D is a limit of 60 Hz max fixed frame rate (and even that could maybe work, if shutters can be made to run at 30 Hz for each eye, but that might cause headaches). All of the real tech is in the display and glasses.
I'll believe it when I see it, that's all I have to say.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...