In the final days of 2010 I have managed to see my first 3D film: Tron Legacy. The experience has confirmed what I had already come to suspect, that 3D in its current incarnation is not the future of video, be it cinema, TV programmes, or video games.
That’s quite a bold statement to make, but I’ll gently walk you through what’s been buzzing around in my head for months. Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first: films, TV programmes, video games have traditionally been displayed in 2D. As human beings, we see in 3D.
Perception
So why hasn’t this bothered us before? Well, the human brain is a remarkable thing. We may not be able to number-crunch as well as computers, but the brain is able to make sense out of our chaotic and often unpredictable environment. As we look at a 2D photograph or video, we’re able to interpret what we see and ‘convert’ it into 3D in our minds.