James Cameron: The Future of Games is 3D

James Cameron​ ushered in a new format when he created Avatar. And not just on the big screen. The Oscar-winning director is also committed to ensuring the new 3D video games he's involved with reach the same high quality as his films.
James Cameron: The Future of Games is 3D
Say "No" to Cheap 3D

Since Cameron's Avatar became a huge movie sensation, Hollywood has stepped up production of 3D movies and oversaturated the ever-growing number of theaters with 2D movies converted to shoddy 3D experiences, such as Clash of the Titans, The Last Airbender​, and Drive Angry 3D. The deluge of movies (and some games) with gimmicky, tacked-on 3D has been damaging to the reputation of modern 3D entertainment.

"Hollywood has to stop doing cheap 3D conversions," Cameron says. "If they're going to do conversions, they have to do them right -- and at a high quality. The way I like to put it is that we're still in the wild, wild West. We don't have the standards. People are launching off in all different directions, and it's going to take a while for it to all settle down. But it's the best practices that matter most for this industry. If you think about it, the 3D industry is very early, so we're the equivalent of 1905 in the film world."
Passive vs. Active 3D

Meanwhile, on the home front, 3D TV sales have not skyrocketed, partially because of competing technologies from companies like Vizio, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sony, and Sharp. Walk into a Best Buy and even the sales people might not be able to explain the difference between active and passive 3D TVs (passive technology utilizes the same type of glasses you wear in theaters, while active technology like Nvidia 3D Vision employs more cumbersome glasses, which shutter images extremely quickly to create depth).

The technologies are not compatible with each other, and just as we've seen happen in the battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, one format will prevail, leaving those who bet on the wrong 3D technology out of luck. Right now, passive technology seems to be gaining favor, especially since new 1080p passive technology corrects the one complaint videophiles have raised around that 3D technology: 3D TVs previously had to split the HD image resolution in half.
"What I think we did wrong with the Avatar game was to release it before the film opened." -- James Cameron

"It's all going to go passive," Cameron says. "There are new screens that we've seen that are not on the market yet that are spectacular. They're actually gorgeous. They're the cheap plastic Polaroid glasses, and you just can all sit there on the couch together. And if the kids break them, it doesn't matter. That's a far cry from where we are right now with these $100 active glasses that have to be plugged in and charged up—and if the dog eats one, it's a big drama."
Why the Avatar Game Failed

The 3D debate is heating up in gaming as well, and it seems to have more critics than fans -- at least from the outside. Within the game industry, developers seem excited about 3D's potential. With Sony, Nintendo, and Nvidia all trumpeting 3D games -- and key publishers like Ubisoft committing half of their titles to the 3D format -- 3D isn't going to go away. But it's still in its early stages. Even Cameron's first video game project, Ubisoft's James Cameron's Avatar: The Video Game, failed to ride the coattails of the film's success.

"What I think we did wrong with the Avatar game was to release it before the film opened," Cameron admits. "I think that the Avatar brand hadn't been well enough established yet since the film hadn't opened. And the game got lost in the pre-Christmas rush with all the other big titles and sequels, and it didn't do as well as everybody hoped it would. I think there were lessons learned and things we need to do better."