Sony: PS3 3D firmware update due within months

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

As Sony celebrates its Christmas sales success story for the PlayStation 3 (even though reports suggest the gaming giant is still losing money on each console it sells) Pocket-lint posed some questions to John Koller, the director of hardware marketing for SCEA about the high-end console's immediate future.

3D is set to be big in 2010, and Sony is not standing still in this market with 3D BRAVIA TVs due to hit this summer, which incidentally is when the PS3 is due its firmware update that will turn it into a fully-fledged, stereoscopic 3D-capable games platform, not to mention separate updates also due that will bring support for 3D Blu-ray.

Read on for our Q&A covering 3D, a 1TB PS3 and an App Store for the PlayStation Network...

Pocket-lint: How big is 3D going to be in the PS3's future? And how does it compare to 3D possibilities on rival platforms?

John Koller: 3D is a major part of our initiatives in 2010 and we're currently developing 3D stereoscopic games to come in conjunction with the launch of Sony's 3D compatible BRAVIA LCD TV in summer 2010. The amazing thing about the PS3's technology is that all PS3 units that exist in homes and markets will be able to play 3D stereoscopic games as well as 3D BD movies through separate firmware upgrades - something that other platforms are unable to do. We'll be announcing actual game titles separately later, but we think that 3D stereoscopic gaming has a ton of potential, particularly in placing consumers within the actual experience. With 3D gaming and Motion Control technologies just around the corner, 2010 will show just how PlayStation is leading the innovation curve in the industry and that the PS3 truly does everything.

P-L: As consumer's appetite for digital content grows, do you see a 1TB PlayStation in the future?

JK: PS3 owners have downloaded an incredible 829 million pieces of content through PSN to date. Digital content will undoubtedly continue to be on the rise, so having a larger hard drive will better accommodate a user's growing digital content library. Specific to a 1TB PS3 system, consumers can technically have one today. We recently launched the 250GB PS3 system, but since the beginning consumers have always been able to purchase and easily install a commercially available hard drive. The flexibility of PS3's design enables you to have a 1TB PS3 if you wanted. Ultimately, our goal is to provide options to PS3 users so that whatever their entertainment choices are next year or the year after, they'll have the storage space to accommodate the way they want to use their system.

P-L: Can we expect to see the PlayStation Network, as a connected platform, get some kind of app store in the future?

JK: PlayStation Network is constantly evolving and we're always looking into bringing additional services and features to PlayStation Network. We have made no announcements at this time but we'll keep you posted.

P-L: Could we see all content saved to PlayStation accounts in the future, perhaps with cloud storage eventually replacing physical hard drives?

JK: Right now, we've found that a built-in hard drive is still an important driving factor in PS3 purchase decisions. That being said, we plan to continue providing PS3 users with options so that whatever their entertainment choices are next year or the year after, they'll have the storage space to accommodate the way they want to use their system.

P-L: Do you expect to see the "Cinema Mode", as seen in Uncharted 2, to become popular across more titles?

JK: With the incredible talent and creativity behind each of SCE's first-party studios, don't be surprised to see more ground-breaking features like Uncharted 2's Cinema Mode. The PS3 is incredibly powerful and with upcoming technology like 3D gaming and our motion controller, both first and third party developers have the ultimate canvas to create innovative features that will change the way games are played and how we interact with them. Specific to Cinema Mode, we don't have any plans to announce at this time.

P-L: How will a 250GB hard drive, as seen in the new PS3 Slim, benefit users as regards the coming-soon motion-controlled games for the PS3?

JK: In terms of the amount of hard drive storage required to install or stored saved game files, games designed to use the upcoming motion controller technology will not differentiate from games that don't. Obviously, a larger hard drive will allow you to download more gaming content as well as give you plenty of overhead to download and store all of your other digital content without having to worry about running low on storage space.

Source: http://www.pocket-li...are-summer-2010

[Livin in a box]

I wonder how many people will use that besides the people with a gold PS3...

[Xilo]

Still waiting on cross voice chat... :whistle:

[spenser.d]

3D is set to be big in 2010

*sigh* Yet again they show their ignorance of the market. 3D's not going to take off for a while. I do give them credit for pioneering the technology, but I don't know how they can think it's going to be a hit anytime soon.

-Spenser

[Sethos]

3D is just a gimmick that has been lurking for a long time and now they are finally trying to cram it down our throats but it'll slowly die out again.

Who the hell is going to invest in a new TV, especially after millions of people across the globe went from SD to HD TVs, so they want people to upgrade AGAIN?

Read: Niche

[PyX]

Nah, I think it's going to work for good now. In 5 years, a lot of people will have 3D TVs. It just wasn't ready before, it wasn't mature. It's not more complicated than that.

But I can't wait to see the results. I've never personally seen a 3D TV and last time I went to IMAX was like 8 years ago. I believe it has changed enough that my opinion doesn't count anymore.

[Doli]

I just cant see 3D on a TV set that you sit a distance from unless you are going to be right infront of the TV. 3D IMAX works because its a huge screen.

Will this 3D update work on computer monitors? If so then I think that is better than a TV, it may not be huge but you are closer to see details more.

[HawkMan]

The problem with 3D at home is just that.

I set up one of those 3D screen acer laptops the other day, and tested the fucntinality, and despite it using a ****ty interlaced option with polarized glasses. it did look good. even though you could spot the double lines at time.

The problem tough is that the screen is so small. you have some cool stuff coming out of the screen, but then it gets all weird at the edges where it just kind of flattens out.

Unless you have a 300 inch projectors creen capable of 3D and you sit right in front of it, it's just not very immersive.

on top of that, with todays consoles, whatever technology you choose to use you're sacrificng quality at one level.

interlaced polarized: each eye only gets half the image, essentially you're back to interlaced quality pictures where you loose a lot of edge definition. bonus is that it won't require much more power, since it renders only helf the image for each eye. HOWEVER. as anyone can tell you, rendering something at half res doesn't double rendering speed. there's is significant overhead used by post processing filtering and all kinds of things in the actual renderign that can't be shared between two cameras. So I'd estimate to render the same picture in stereo, it would require at least 150% the power of non stereo, despite rendering essentially at the same speed.

Shutters: shutters is supposed to be a better technology for some reason, and I guess that's because each eye gets the full high def frame, avoiding lack of edge definitions and interlace artifacts. However it will require the same overhead as interlaced+ rendering at twice the resolution. the only way that's feasable today is to link two consoles at some rather unprecedented sync rates. even then you'll. even then you'll still be at todays 30-60 fps, with the tv duplicating the frames for the 120hz shutter, that doesn't really matter since the only important thing is to switch eye often, it doesn't matter if they get the same frame multiple times. the thing is of course you need a much more perfect sync than something like forza 3-4 screen setup since that's just different angles. the frames need to be perfectly synced. which can be achieved with a delay somewhere. of course simple games that don't use the hardware such as wipeout HD should be capable of doing full frame 3D.

Either way I think a lot of people will be dissapointed with 3D this generation. the benefits aren't there but the quality degradation is. And honestly sony, NO 3D is NOT innovative. it wasn't innovative 10 years ago even :p 3D will be awesoem when consoles are small enough and pwoerfull enough deliver real life graphics in a package that can fit into oversized glass/goggles. with built in screens for full immersion. 3D on a screen is just fail anyway. Give me the good old title and rotation detection headsets of the past, not the cheap ones, the quality ones.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I always tell people to read this, in regards to the PS3 anyway - http://www.neowin.ne...-for-3d-at-home

DL has had hands on experience (pretty much no one else on here has), and unless he wants to go back on his article, his experience sounded fairly positive - That's with the tech last year as well (Jan 2009).

Many of the previously mentioned companies are actually quite vague about just exactly how their vision of 3D will be delivered, with Sony being the extreme example, using TV's built just for the show on previously non existing tech, meaning none of their previous television models can do 3D, or say they say. I was told during my demonstration that their 3D is actually just a proof of concept, and they are not even sure if they will release it, they just wanted to show that it could be done if they wanted. Seems like a lot of work for something they do not plan to release, so I would say it is safe to say they will release it, and their 3D was actually one of if not the most impressive ones I have viewed. Wipeout HD in 3D was absolutely stellar in action, and the depth of the 3D was indeed incredibly impressive.

[HawkMan]

I know 3D is awesome in action. I've seen and tried it myself.

but ultimately it fails when you play it on a "small" screen where you see the image just stops.

of course sony TV's will use shutters (I think only LG so far has chosen to go polarized for some compatibility reason they claimed..) so it won't have the quality degradation, and as I said, it's a simple enough game that todays cnosole hardware can handle stereoscopic rendering of it.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I know 3D is awesome in action. I've seen and tried it myself.

but ultimately it fails when you play it on a "small" screen where you see the image just stops.

of course sony TV's will use shutters (I think only LG so far has chosen to go polarized for some compatibility reason they claimed..) so it won't have the quality degradation, and as I said, it's a simple enough game that todays cnosole hardware can handle stereoscopic rendering of it.

Um the TVs DL and what not were using at CES were probably only 40"+. It was rows of booths I believe, they don't have cinema displays in booths.

Wipeout HD is also 1080p/60FPS, GT5 is also running in 3D. Not exactly "simple" games.

[DrCheese]

Can we expect to see the PlayStation Network, as a connected platform, get some kind of app store in the future?

er wat? Isn't that what the PSN store is?

....

[HawkMan]

Um the TVs DL and what not were using at CES were probably only 40"+. It was rows of booths I believe, they don't have cinema displays in booths.

Wipeout HD is also 1080p/60FPS, GT5 is also running in 3D. Not exactly "simple" games.

and you ACTUALLY think that GT5 will be runnign at the same graphics as the non stereoscopic one, at 1080px2 60fps...

come on you're smarter than that. the BEST they can possibly do is 1080p30x2 rendering every second frame left and right, for a total of 60fps. even then that doesn't take into account the significant overhead each camera will be using in the renderign engine, so somethign else will be needing to be sacrificed as well at some level, possibly scratching any post processing altogether in 3D.

and yes, Wipeout D i DO call a simple game. rendering at 1080p60 does not make a game non simple. graphically Wipeout HD does not tax the hardware. And this the hardware can easily cope with full stereoscopic rendering.

Also as for the depth, yes, that's what I said. even on a tiny 15 inch laptop screen the depth is there and it is incredible. but it still stops at the edge of the screen ruinign the illusion. it look sawesome for a while. but then you realize it doesn't add ANYTHING to the game. if you where compeltely surrounded and didn't see the edges of the screen then yes, 3D would fu..ing blow your mind because the immersion woudl be total. as it is, it's not.