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PS3 To Gain Support For 3-D Movies On Blu-Ray and YouTube

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-one-of-them dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news that Sony is planning a firmware update for the PS3 to enable 3-D playback from Blu-ray movies and YouTube. The update is scheduled for September, and support for 3-D photos will come later. Sony's Kaz Hirai spoke recently about how the PS3 was designed with these kinds of upgrades in mind. "Given how fast technology turns over now, we knew going in that we had to pack a lot of horsepower into the PS3. Four years ago — when you look at the console's power and its retail price — a lot of people were critical with the fact that there was so much packed under the hood. Now we're especially pleased to be introducing things like Move and 3-D gaming because we're able to show tangibly why we released the PS3 with the power it has, and why it makes so much sense to future proof a console." Sony also updated its PS3 Terms of Service to warn against too much 3-D viewing.

11 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. More 3-D madness. by Yamata+no+Orochi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why this push for everything to be 3-D? It was a stupid novelty years ago, and its no less stupid now.

    1. Re:More 3-D madness. by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At least they are trying to do something to make paying to see the movie worthwhile. They could just focus on bankrupting college students as a business, and not even bother to create an incentive to go to the theaters.

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      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:More 3-D madness. by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Electronic companies want to continue the economic boom they experienced with the analog/SDTV to digital/HDTV transition. Now that it's complete, they need a new carrot to dangle in front of consumers, and they think 3DTV is it.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:More 3-D madness. by c0lo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Now we're especially pleased... because we're able to show tangibly why we released the PS3 with the power it has

      Sony also updated its PS3 Terms of Service to warn against too much 3-D viewing

      Sort of saying: "We are sooo pleased we are now able to sell you something that will harm you, without investing any further", eh?

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    4. Re:More 3-D madness. by SquarePixel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And it was not stupid, just old and bad technology before. He is probably thinking the old red-blue glasses. 3D viewing has improved a lot in the recent years, and for example gives a totally new feeling with games. If you have tried Left 4 Dead with NVidia's 3D Vision Kit and a 120hz 3D capable monitor, you know what I'm talking about (it is a lot scarier too).

      It really gives a completely new feeling, when done right, and remember this is all along the path for technology that can render the environment completely and realistically around us, with a complete feeling of "being there".

    5. Re:More 3-D madness. by NoPantsJim · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think at the very least part of it has to do with piracy. I remember years ago when hddvd and bluray were first hitting the shelves they were heralded as the end of piracy. The logic was no one would be able to pirate a movie that clocks in at 40-50 gigs. Of course, thanks to h.264 and other codecs, downloading 1080p copies of movies is pretty trivial.

      I suspect that studio execs are sitting around assuming no one will be able to figure out how to pirate 3-d movies. Of course, there are probably people much much smarter than they are trying to figure out how.

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      Name...That...Autocomplete!
    6. Re:More 3-D madness. by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It still gives me a headache.

      And putting pressure on the remains of my foot hurts. Congrats, like me you're a cripple. The main difference is that I don't begrudge people who can walk from enjoying it. Be glad it's such a minor disability, could be a whole lot worse than having some movies be unavailable.

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      Everything will be taken away from you.
    7. Re:More 3-D madness. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, if it works for majority of the people, then the problem is in you.

  2. Whoopy fucking do by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Whoopy fucking do. Booting foreign operating systems is out, 3D is in. Totally repositioned as a toy.

  3. Fix the Damn Original Units by BigSes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It'd be nice if they would actually get around to admitting the YLOD overheat problem with the older 40-60-80 gig units is a manufacturing error (its obvious upon disassembly that the thermal grease is improperly applied and of low quality) and fix them. Hell, even Microsoft admitted to and addressed the RROD problem, taking steps to properly assist those who suffered from it.

  4. Re:10%er? by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Those aren't zombies, they're black people. And please stop shooting them.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.