I've read and heard tons of discussion about the pros and cons of 3D in gaming, but one point that I believe will be one of the most important is also one that I haven't heard elsewhere. Will adding 3D to games ramp up development costs? Costs have already been climbing so fast and high that developers are going to have to hire company Sherpas. We're [i]already[/i] seeing games like Mirror's Edge which sold something like 1.5 million copies and still weren't considered a financial success. If developing for 3D adds to that I think we're going to wind up seeing a more extreme form of the current segregation between high profile games that have ultra-high budgets and tons of marketing that sell millions of copies. . . and everyone else.

That's a good point, Brandon, and something I've thought about too. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer.

@Brandon One thing we neglected to discuss is how the future of gaming could be more low-tech than what we have now thanks to the rise of Facebook and other social games and streaming services such as OnLive. If they become dominate, they could kill 3D gaming in its infancy.

Hey guys great episode this week. Just wanted to stop by and comment on 3d gaming. I am really getting sick of people saying its a gimmick. How is adding additional pixels to the screen not a gimmick( HD) but adding true depth is? Its just another bump up in visual realism. And since we as humans see in steroscopic , it cant be argued that its a more realistic image. Where it gets gimmiky is the glasses.But this is a point I see missed over and over again in every 3d disscussion. YOU WONT NEED GLASSES in a few years. Its called and "autosteroscopic" display, It exsists now. Its coming to consumers this year. THe price will come down. Once that happens and the movie studios stop jamming 3d marketing in our faces 3d will catch on. 2d imagry is a limitation. Its like seeing the content with one eye closed, its un natrual. I think this is even more true in games. The devs are making 3d worlds and 3d content already but only one digital camera has been filming it. I wanna see thier 3d work in 3d. Last thing about cost rising due to 3d. That really isnt the case cause like I said all they are doing is adding an addtional camera in the enviorment and rendering it twice( just like split screeen in games EXACT same thing actually). THis shouldnt increase the dev cost very much at all to get that running. Thats for "true 3d" though. THere is also post procesed 3d. Think of it like upsccaling dvds to hd. It looks better but its not true hd. Same thing here. Devs can add in 3d support ( like sony with their upcoming 3d firmwareupdate) buts its just not the same as content with 2 true cameras in the enviorment.

Very true Justin, I tend to ignore Facebook gaming and Onlive was buried deep in my memory already, but they are entirely different directions that could derail 3D and other technologies. In fact, if development for 3D and other technologies like the various forms of motion controls is even more expensive than current gen development already is, those technologies may actually contribute to their own demise by driving more developers towards that low-tech side of gaming.