Success, however, is ultimately engineered and some of the biggest names in the industry are already jumping on the 3D bandwagon. LG already has a 3D-capable line of flat panel TV’s being introduced in May. Of course, 3D glasses are required, so if you’re the kind of person who loses remotes then things don’t look hassle-free, but LG representative Axel Voosen says innovation is right around the corner.

“3D technology is still developing. I know people aren’t fond of wearing the glasses but this will definitely change. It will be at least three years before engineers design televisions and monitors that can be watched without glasses,” he said, aware of what premature promises bring. “You never know,” he quickly adds, “we might get there sooner.” It’s not that the technology doesn’t exist to watch 3D on screens without glasses – Voosen noted that such displays can be found. It’s that the tech still needs refinement as the displays are constrained by “serious issues pertaining to angles” and “distance sensitive” concerns.

With companies stocking shelves and flooring the marketing pedal, will the average Hong Konger hop aboard the tech train? Editor of Hong Kong tech site NeonPunch.com, Jetson Lee, is sceptical: “It all depends on price and how 3D content providers work it out,” he says. “HD is one thing, but will families put on glasses to watch the news or cooking shows? Our initial reaction is no, and it will be a niche product.” So it’s not for everybody, but will it be for somebody? Lee thinks so: “It will be great for movie buffs.”

Even last year, electronics giant Sony unveiled a pair of 3D glasses that project video onto the lens while still allowing you to see the world around you – sort of like a heads-up-display. These glasses are part of Sony’s push to embrace 3D television – but tapping 3D doesn’t end there. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. Chairman Kaz Hirai announced that at some point in 2010, firmware updates will be released for the Playstation 3 console to allow for full 3D stereoscopic gaming functionality, and this is just one of the moves of many to make 3D gaming a mainstream reality, as Sony and Microsoft match each other move for move in the quest for console-market domination. Ubisoft has all but taken the lead in the software department, with their Avatar game becoming the first to use 3D technology well. Yannis Mallat, chief executive of the Montreal subsidiary, believes that 3D gaming is the future of the video-game industry and that Ubisoft has taken a step further to transforming itself from a video-game developer to a “360-degree entertainment content provider.”

But what good is a 3D game world if we can’t move around in it like it was real life? The answer is as conceptually exciting as it is a logical step forward. Johnny Lee of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University has used the Wiimote for the Nintendo Wii console to create a headtracking device.

“It tracks the movement of your head and changes the scene accordingly depending on what angle you view the screen at,” he says. “The display is transformed from an electronic photo frame to a portal or a window into another room,” – essentially, the game world. Gone is that feeling of flatness when staring at 3D on a 2D panel.

Now, picture a stealth game where you have to hide in shadows and peer around corners. The game world moves with your head. You see objects at different angles and the light reflects and refracts accurately. Look up and down at a totally realised virtual world. It’s just one step away from sensors attached to the body. Walk forward in game. Lean left and dodge a bullet. Transfer this technology to a film or television show and the results are even more mind-blowing. The technology between 3D gaming and 3D filming is closely linked, and advancement in one usually points the way for the other. Ultimately, the refinement of the technology is still in infancy, but the motivation is there. Maturation will inevitably follow. “3D is to pictures what Dolby Stereo was to sound,” Mallat says. “No one wants to go back to stereo.”

Whether this third golden age of 3D will succeed where the others failed is to be seen. What’s undeniable, however, is that this once quaint and previously never-quite-right method of presentation has pulled out the big guns this time around in its bid to become an integral part of our lives, and the backing’s there across the board to keep its battle raging.

-Hugo Stanford

HITS AND MISSES IN 3D

HITS

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

The fondly remembered 1953 3D sci-fi classic’s poster boasted: Fantastic sights leap out at you in 3-Dimension! Amazing! Exciting! Spectacular! And at the time, this fresh alien-fest was just that.

CAPTAIN EO

Dancing his way into Disneyland, Michael Jackson had a generation of kids ducking for cover as things flew at their faces in this long-running 1986 3D film and attraction. The Star Wars-influenced, George Lucas-produced and Francis Ford Coppola-directed space-based mini film is set to be revamped later in the year and will return to Disneyland.

AVATAR

After over 100 years of work, Avatar, the most successful movie of all time, is the film that’s revealed 3D’s full potential. The clunky script and overbearing cod-morals can’t keep this movie down, with Chinese cinemas still booked up with an ever-growing waiting list.

MISSES

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 6: FREDDY’S DEAD

Released on video in 1991, this installment of the dreamkiller’s 3D venture came with two sets of glasses and boasted unspectacular stereoscopic sequences interspersed into the unspectacular movie.

JAWS 3-D

Dennis Quaid hunted down the world’s most famous rubber shark in awful sub-par 3D. Silly plot, silly special effects and a silly shark meant this was destined for the bargain bins.

VIRTUAL BOY

Nintendo can’t be blamed for trying with this under-developed and clunky console. The thought was there but the technology wasn’t, meaning in 1995 it left a Christmas of disappointed children in its wake.

Lucky little buggers, kids have it so much better nowadays, with the ever increasing array of 3D films, games and attractions that have come to life since two dimensional evolved into three dimensional. Back in our day, we were only allowed the luxury of stereoscopic 3D whenever we were good boys and girls and got taken to the Peak to see 3D on screen or found a chunky, heavy 3D visor under the Christmas tree. Even then the films were about 10 minutes short and it was either a scary rollercoaster ride or a leaping alien, not a whole bunch of leaping aliens that can sync with indigenous creatures and are forced to protect their home from economic greed. As for the games, you were in a room, and you won when you picked up a ball from a table. Awesome. But times are changing; gone are the red and blue glasses you hold in your hand. They have been replaced by much snazzier Ray Ban-designed Real3D glasses. This new technology brings on-screen wonders like Avatar, Coraline, Up and Monsters vs Aliens to life, as well as advancing gaming experiences and making the 3D home television experience a reality.

The term 3D traditionally brings forward the concept of things coming straight out at you from the screen and the illusion of being able to reach out and touch them. Current 3D movies, however, aren’t your stereotypical “all up in yo’ face” 3D. In fact, the 3D effect is far subtler and more in the way of gently immersing the audience in the

world of the movie. Pixar blockbuster Up director Pete Docter: “The things that were important to me as a director was not to distract people with 3D. You don’t want to pop them out of the movie by going “ooga-booga.” We basically said, “Okay, the screen is like a window and you can see into it but let’s not bring too many things out.” That adds a certain sense of depth and I think, for a lot of people, they feel more transported into that world.” Agreeing with Docter on the use of subtle 3D is director of the upcoming Alice in Wonderland remake, Tim Burton. “I think the gimmick elements have fallen by the wayside. It’s more about an experience that puts you in it more. Now you don’t walk out of the theater with a headache. It enhances and puts you more in that world,” he says.

Much like current films in 3D, games have now taken on the role of transporting the game into the player’s world. The concept of 3D virtual reality and 3D landscapes within games is not new. What is, however, is the ability to bring the game out of the screen. “In the past, 3D films and 3D games enjoyed a boom in the 1980s but quickly died down because they could not meet basic requirements, such as having high image quality and a high frame rate at the same time,” explains Atsushi Miyazawa, researcher at Namco Bandai Games Inc. “In 2007, it seemed that the issues of high definition and movie quality would be solved. So, the film and game industries, which had been

weighing the timing of making 3D contents, began making them in earnest.” He adds. With the technology at our fingertips, and going with the trend of wanting to spruce our home sweet homes with the latest beeps and boops, Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Managment of Xbox 360, verifies that we are now in the age of bringing 3D into our homes more than ever before. “I think it’s clear that the technology is here. We support 3D today-we’re a fully compatible 3D console, and I think it’s just a matter of developers wanting to make 3D games and consumers wanting to bring 3D into their homes. I think it’s unclear how much demand there is for that.” Microsoft’s new Project Natal has allowed them to introduce 3D games like Scrap Metal by the creators of the award winning N+. Another 3D groundbreaker on the Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii is James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, which has introduced workable stereoscopy to home consoles. Game developer Ubisoft’s Brent George tells why they decided to go 3D: “We had two clear goals in developing Avatar: The Game: a) to prove to the industry, and more importantly to gamers, that we’re able to do it, and b) to develop the skill set and tools within our studios to continue to work in the medium.”