After a horrendous April and May due to multiple hacking atrocities, Sony was looking to wow the crowd at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year. In previous years the 3D capabilities of their PlayStation 3 were something the company wanted to brag over but market penetration for 3D TV hasn't exactly been stellar at this point. This year Sony wanted to push an affordable 3D TV, branded with the PlayStation name to entice the gaming faithful.
This particular 3D TV isn't just another HD set boasting 3D capabilities that just happens to have the PlayStation name. While it is those things it is also the first set to leverage Sony's Dual View technology. This tech lets 2 people playing split screen on the same set to see two completely different images. This reduces the annoyance of having someone increase their competitive edge in a game by looking over at the opposing players view of the game world.
So how does this work exactly? Each player would need a pair of 3D glasses and in the Dual View mode instead of seeing 3D one player would simply see what the left eye would see in 3D mode and the other player would see what the right eye sees. That means the images are 2D but two completely unique images can be projected separately to the two different players.
The set itself will sell for $500, PlayStation 3 not included. The 3D glasses will retail for $69.99 per pair. During their E3 press conference, Sony was pushing a bundle that includes a 24 inch 3D set, one pair of glasses, an HDMI cable, and a PS3 game all for the $500 price tag.
Kaz Hirai, one of Sony's executives, claims that the purpose of the TV is to make 3D gaming more accessible. While that company line sounds great, the tech itself doesn't really line up with that idea. The set is pricey, especially considering it's only 24 inches. The Dual View technology is cool, but not really anything worth writing home about. Honestly, how many people are playing games split screen these days? But who knows, this could trigger the resurgence of split screen gaming in the current console generation.
