It has just been revealed at the Tokyo Game Show SCEI SCEJ media briefingpress conference that PlayStation 3 will support 3D Blu-ray 3D Disc playback from 21 September 2010, through system software update 3.50, allowing you to watch movies in stunning stereoscopic 3D.

PlayStation 3 already supports stereoscopic 3D gaming, with games such as MotorStorm 3D Rift, WipEout HD and SuperStardust HD available now and upcoming titles such as Killzone 3 and MotorStorm Apocalypse set to take advantage of this immersive new technology. 3D Blu-ray 3D Disc playback, in addition to stereoscopic 3D gaming, and stereoscopic photo support add up to thewill deliver users with total 3D package for PS3 owners.

We’ll have more detailed information very soon.

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Walking around shows like gamescom, talking to journalists and developers, you pick up on certain ‘buzz phrases’ each time, and this year, one of those was “MotorStorm Apocalypse in 3D”.

Those that had played it were encouraging others to do so with anecdotes of physically ducking out of the way as a racing truck tumbles towards them. The other big news for the boys from Evolution Studios last week was that they were showing the first new track since the game’s announcement.

I managed to prise Game Director Matt Southern from his dark room for some well earned Vitamin D; check out the interview below.

It seems there are more MotorStorm Apocalypse announcements coming in the next few months, and I’ll be on hand to bring them to you.

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Hi everyone! I’m Simon Benson, Senior Development Manager in the SCEE 3D Team, and I’m excited to reveal that we’re bringing our favourite MotorStorm Pacific Rift races to life in true stereoscopic 3D. You may already be aware that the jaw dropping 3D racing in MotorStorm Apocalypse is coming in 2011, but to fill the gap with equally stunning 3D racing right now, MotorStorm 3D Rift is coming to PlayStation Store next week!

MotorStorm 3D Rift lets you experience 10 MotorStorm Pacific Rift tracks in stunning 3D and features a selection of festival-favourite off-road vehicles: Bikes, Buggies, Racing Trucks and Monster Trucks – the latter being my personal weapon of choice when racing across the dangerously unpredictable jungles, beaches, waterfalls and volcanic wastelands served up by this particular tropical island.

There are 10 unique events to compete in (one for each track) and we have included the full range of competitor difficulty levels through the races so you can enjoy the brutal off-road racing at your leisure, or take on the challenge of the toughest and most competitive rivals. With 3D gaming though, you’ll have the edge.

Through stereoscopic 3D you can naturally judge your speed and proximity, which is extremely useful when trying to avoid being side-swiped by a rampaging Racing Truck, ramming a rival Buggy into a cave wall, or timing when to get back on the accelerator as you take a tricky corner. When you are riding a Bike, it’s obvious what you can and can’t duck under – even at high speeds. When you are sitting behind the wheel of a Monster Truck, you get to feel just how monstrous it is – looking down on a rival Buggy just before they disappear under your super-sized wheels.

If you’ve played the 3D Collection demo and wanted more tracks and a greater challenge, you need to pick up MotorStorm 3D Rift. If you haven’t, you’ll be blown away by the sense of speed as you fight through the sublime tropical island setting and RIP it up in 3D paradise.

Nothing beats the 3D gaming experience, but if you don’t yet own a 3D TV and you want to get a taste of MotorStorm Pacific Rift, then I can assure you that 3D Rift is still wicked fun on a ‘normal’ TV. Check out this video of the adrenaline fuelled MotorStorm Pacific Rift in action…

MotorStorm 3D Rift is due to be released exclusively on PlayStation Store on 25th August 2010.

We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as the team here has enjoyed working on it and look forward to bringing you more breath-taking 3D racing action your way with MotorStorm Apocalypse next year!

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We first heard of Sony’s 3D plans when our producer, Phil Gaskell, asked us to think about a stereoscopic 3D version of our PSN hit Super Stardust HD (SSHD) in summer 2009.

Our first reaction was that it sounded interesting, but we were doubtful whether 3D would ever work or be even possible to do for SSHD for a couple of main reasons. The first one was that we were really concerned over whether we would be able to develop a proper 3D version of the game without compromising full 60 frames per second gameplay.

Also, we hadn’t personally seen proper 3D images in action and the premier of Avatar was half a year away. So, we got to work and thought about how on earth we are going to be able to render TWICE the amount of stuff than before as now we basically needed to get the refresh rate from 60fps to 120fps to produce stereoscopic pictures.

For the more technologically inclined people reading this blog, here’s some insight on what we had to do.

We had been working on our next version of our game engine for over a year and replaced the core engine with a newer one. As the engine is highly modular it was mainly a matter of adding stereoscopic cameras and configuring the engine to render everything twice. That was, of course, just the beginning: after that we had to optimize a lot, as we now had 8.3ms instead of 16.7ms to render a frame.

Luckily, we had 50 per cent of the SPU power left, so we tapped into that.

The main challenge of making stereoscopic SSHD was mainly drawcalls and

polygons – we have lots of objects with lots of polygons and massive particle effects. We solved the issue by moving vertex processing from GPU to SPU and merging as many objects as possible to one drawcall. Previously, every asteroid chunk and every enemy was in a separate drawcall; in the stereo version they go out in a few fell swoops.

We had the first 3D version of SSHD running in autumn 2009. We didn’t have a proper 3D television at that time and we had to use paper anaglyph red-and-green (or cyan to be exact) glasses to see the 3D image on our monitors. The images we could produce didn’t even have proper color in them, but it was still really impressive.

Even though we didn’t have a final 3D Bravia television during that time, we were able to produce a much talked version of the game for the CES 2010. When we finally got the final Sony Bravia 3D TV with active shutter glasses to our offices early in 2010, we were blown away. When playing our game, things were literally seen in a new dimension. This was REALLY cool stuff!

3D certainly has a bright future ahead and we are happy that we had a chance to develop the first 3D PS3 game that runs 720p resolution in 60fps for both eyes, meaning that we are actually having 3D SSHD running in 120fps! The improvements we did for our engine are also benefiting the gamers of 2D version as well. To summarize, the 3D version includes:

• 3D mode of the game running 720p at 120fps (60fps per eye)
• 2D mode of split screen co-op mode updated from 30fps to 60fps
• 4x antialiasing support in 720p and native 1920x1080p support in 2D mode

The 3D update is free to all existing SSHD gamers enhancing also the 2D mode, so don’t forget to update your game even though you haven’t got your 3D television (yet)!

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Tomorrow, there will be a special PlayStation Store update, which will usher in a new era of videogames where you can truly feel part of the action. By downloading the 3D Collection you can play WipEout HD, SuperStardust HD, PAIN and a MotorStorm Pacific Rift demo in amazing stereoscopic 3D.

You can download all four for the bargain price of €29.99 or pick them up for free when you buy a Sony Bravia 3D TV package. Of course, if you already own WipEout HD, SuperStardust HD or PAIN, there will be a free software update, so that you can play them in 3D

Here are a few words from Simon Benson, Senior Development Manager at Evolution Studios, on how stereoscopic 3D works and what it brings to videogames:

PlayStation 3 now supports Stereoscopic 3D, allowing games with 3D features to output two High Definition images at 60Hz when you connect your PS3 to a 3D TV.

As human beings, we see a slightly different view of the world from each of our eyes, and our brains analyse the differences to work out important cues – this is referred to as stereoscopic 3D. As humans, we evolved this ability due to naturally being predators, allowing us to hunt prey far more effectively, judging more accurately how far away things are and how fast they are moving.

We have taken this idea, so that you can now experience these same advantages in any PlayStation 3 game that supports Stereoscopic 3D features.

As you can see, stereoscopic 3D is not just a novelty; it is something that really makes a difference, particularly to games, and can even give you a competitive edge. Imaging playing a racing game such as MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and being able to judge when to break to avoid collisions, just like you can in a real car.

Many sports games are also perfect for Stereoscopic 3D. After all, how many sports can you play in the real world without 3D vision? Try closing one eye and hitting a ball… good luck! In a nutshell, stereoscopic 3D lets you look at games in the same way as you do the real world, taking them one step closer to reality.

Stereoscopic 3D is also the perfect partner to our new PlayStation Move motion controller. Imagine being able to interact with a game using a 3D controller whilst also viewing it in Stereoscopic 3D, effectively reaching into the screen. This is possibly the biggest gaming revolution in many years.

Stay tuned for more news and features on 3D gaming very soon.

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