If you are a VG Press regular, can you please go on the record so we can come back in a couple of years and say "I told you so", one way or the other?

I think 3D gaming is a shitty idea.  At best it will be like the 19th century stereo scopes, or like the Viewmasters from the 70's and 80's.  This is not about emulating reality, it's about selling TV's goggles and consoles.  It's a shit idea that will waste valuable creative efforts (like the SEGA CD did).

So please, man-up and go on the record, for or against 3D gaming. (And this is not about supporting the 3DS or not, I will get one at launch, but not for the 3D).

Agnates said:

Eh, goggles and shit no thank you, but I see no reason not to incorporate it on every single display device out there from now on (especially if goggle-less 3D is about as good, idk), for consoles, portables, or not. It's always merely an option anyway, just a little rendering effect that for some people it's better, and others it leaves unaffected since it's an option. I see no reason to be against it and I dunno if I'm all "for" it until I experience it either.

 See the thing about the opinion that, "I don't mind I can always turn it off" is like the "I don't care if they include an online mode, I never use it".  I am a campaign mode kind of guy, but as we watch the campaign modes drift toward 6-7 hours we see more and more development time invested in online modes.  I'd love to see a world where a game is retailed at $10 less and if you want the online mode you pay $10 more, but that will never happen.  

As it stands, I've bought H3 and many other games and not used the online mode, where probably more than half of the development cost was sinked into the online capabilities I'll never use.

aspro said:

Agnates said:

Eh, goggles and shit no thank you, but I see no reason not to incorporate it on every single display device out there from now on (especially if goggle-less 3D is about as good, idk), for consoles, portables, or not. It's always merely an option anyway, just a little rendering effect that for some people it's better, and others it leaves unaffected since it's an option. I see no reason to be against it and I dunno if I'm all "for" it until I experience it either.

See the thing about the opinion that, "I don't mind I can always turn it off" is like the "I don't care if they include an online mode, I never use it".  I am a campaign mode kind of guy, but as we watch the campaign modes drift toward 6-7 hours we see more and more development time invested in online modes.  I'd love to see a world where a game is retailed at $10 less and if you want the online mode you pay $10 more, but that will never happen.  

As it stands, I've bought H3 and many other games and not used the online mode, where probably more than half of the development cost was sinked into the online capabilities I'll never use.

The comparison is silly at best. It's just a rendering effect. It doesn't affect gameplay or resources spent or anything else. Not in its current form. As long as it's just a rendering effect it doesn't affect development in any meaningful way and as long as it's just a rendering effect it will be an option. If a new 3D tech appears down the line that actually requires a change in development and what not, that's an entirely different matter.

Also, there are plenty games that focus on single player as well, perhaps you aren't looking in the right places. FPS or whatever's hot these days was rarely longer than 8 hours so such Hollywood-esque titles haven't really changed. The games that had expansive campaigns of many hours were always RPG games and such for the most part, which still offer the same things (and MMOs haven't replaced them, they're a different market). Strategy games as well. I don't see much of a change in how these genres are handled. There's probably also the issue of being younger and finding things harder at the time, ie taking 20+ hours to finish Resident Evil when it's actually rather short or whatever else. Anyway, vote with your money. I'd say don't buy games whose primary focus is MP if all you want is SP, otherwise you send the wrong message.