On December 4th, Ubisoft released James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game for pretty much all platforms; Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBOX 360l, Nintendo Wii and DS and the PC. A version for the iPhone and iPod Touch is due out later this month. The PS3, XBOX 360 and PC versions all support Stereoscopic 3D, and I have played the PC Demo version using my NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses and Samsung 2233rz 120Hz monitor. A more detailed assessment of the S-3D performance will be in the upcoming Mobile Display Report.

Dale Maunu
Insight Media Consultant

With all the hype around 3D and Avatar the movie, I expected the same for the game. As result, I went to our local GameStop recently to check out the packaged versions of the game, mostly to see how Ubisoft was handing the marketing and presentation of S-3D. To my great surprise, it was completely missing. I inspected everything written on XBOX 360 and PC packages, scouring the unbelievably fine print in search of any hint of S-3D. Zip. Zero. Nada.

By this time, the curiosity of the GameStop staff was sufficiently aroused so I explained what I was doing. To my great relief, they were quite knowledgeable about S-3D! Although, it was not first-hand knowledge, as they had not played games in S-3D themselves, they knew that the Avatar game was capable of being played in S-3D, and they knew that the likelihood of any customers having everything needed (compatible TV or Monitor and the corresponding glasses) was extremely low. That said they were also surprised that the packaging did not say anything.

The young man behind the counter made a rather astute observation; how do they expect 3D to catch on without any standards? If you look at the system requirements section (on the PC version) it clearly states what is needed to play the game. If they want people to play in 3D, they need to list what is needed in this section.

He makes a very good point; how can gamers be expected to play a game in S-3D if there is no mention of what is required at the point of purchase? With all of the investment in the movie, and the plan to release the game two-weeks before the movie to help drive awareness and interest, why skip a crucially important detail? At E3, Ubisoft made a huge deal about being able to play the game in S-3D - they even had a Panasonic 103" PDP for their S-3D demo. Calls to Ubisoft had not been returned at the time of this writing, so I do not have a complete understanding of why they seem to have scaled back their promotion of S-3D. It is also interesting to note that the website (http://avatargame.us.ubi.com/) also makes no mention of S-3D capability.

For what it is worth, the game has quite a few options for setting up S-3D and they work quite well. The game itself is, by far, the best looking game in S-3D I have seen so far. But the point remains, if S-3D is going to catch on, then is must be promoted properly. In the case of Avatar: The Game, which is tightly tied into the Avatar 3D movie, S-3D needs to be mentioned, let alone promoted properly. The bottom line: I don’t get it, but I will keep digging and try to find out more.