Electronic Entertainment Exposition Playstation, Nintendo DS go 3-D

McClatchy Newspapers

LOS ANGELES

If Nintendo and Sony have anything to say about it, 3-D is going to be the next big thing in gaming.

At the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, better known as E3, the two giant Japanese game-makers this week touted their own visions of the 3-D future.

The longtime rivals agreed that 3-D is about to go mainstream, with numerous 3-D games from top developers in the works, but each had its own vision for the technology.

Sony is focusing on the big-screen televisions in consumers living rooms.

Its PlayStation 3 console is capable of playing 3-D games on those TVs, thanks to a software upgrade the company made available in April.

“This is a whole other dimension for the PlayStation 3 and the industry,” said Kaz Hirai, president and group CEO for Sony Computer Entertainment.

Nintendo is concentrating on a much smaller screen. The company plans to release a new version of its DS handheld dubbed the 3DS that will play 3-D games.

“We think there’s a better way, where you can take 3-D with you wherever you go,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America.

Each company’s version of 3-D has its own quirks. Sony’s doesn’t require consumers to buy a new game machine, but they will have to own (or buy) one of the new 3-D-capable televisions and the 3-D glasses that help produce the stereoscopic images.

That kind of investment could easily run to more than $2,500.

Sony promises a lineup of some 20 3-D games by next March, including titles sure to please core gamers, such as “Killzone 3,” “Gran Turismo 5” and “Crysis 2.”

Forty games that utilize PlayStation Move, the console’s new motion-control system, would be out in time for the holiday season. Unlike Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or Nintendo’s Wii, the PS3 has been updated with software to display 3-D games. “What PlayStation did for Blu-ray, we’re now ready to do for 3-D,” said Kazuo Hirai. “It’s that experience in content that will define 3-D.”

While Nintendo’s version of 3-D will require consumers to buy a new game machine, it will likely be much more economical than Sony’s. Nintendo hasn’t announced a price yet for the 3DS, which will come out sometime before April next year.

But consumers will be able to play the 3D games on the device itself rather than needing to buy a new TV, and they won’t need to wear any special glasses to see the 3-D effect.

“Man, those glasses; that sort of fashion-forward statement doesn’t come cheap,” Fils-Aime noted in a dig at living-room 3-D technologies.

Among the 3-D titles in the works for the 3DS are “Madden NFL” from Electronic Arts, “Saints Row” from THQ, and “Resident Evil” from Capcom.

E3 finds both of the Japanese console makers and the industry as a whole at something of a crossroads.

Nintendo has had unrivaled success in recent years with its Wii and DS devices. But the company’s sales last year plunged 22 percent as sales of the Wii cooled off and Nintendo cut prices.

And the company faces increasing competition. Sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 have been picking up, and both companies are working on new motion-sensing accessories that will potentially rival the Wii’s controllers.

On the handheld side, Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices have become popular game machines.

Sony still finds itself mired in third place behind Nintendo but Microsoft. And while sales are ramping up, they still are anemic compared with what the company was able to achieve with its PlayStation 2. Sony also revealed the Move controller will be available Sept. 19 in the U.S. for $49.99. The Move’s navigation controller will be sold separately for $29.99.

Boosting sales of the PlayStation 3 is going to be crucial for the company, because sales of its predecessor are finally starting to tail off and sales of its PlayStation Portable handheld system have fallen off a cliff.

Microsoft also detailed its new Kinect game technology to be launched Nov. 4 for the Xbox 360 game console. Once known as Project Natal, the Kinect system recognizers users’ gestures and voices, so you can control on-screen avatars in racing, action and sports games just by moving your body. Microsoft showed off a “Star Wars” game, coming in 2011, that will use Kinect to let players swing virtual lightsabers in their living rooms, and a dance title from the makers of “Rock Band” that eliminates the need for controllers and high-tech mats to get moving. Prices were not disclosed, and it’s not clear whether Kinect will come with new Xboxes or only be sold separately.