3D TV sales are not doing well. Advertisements for 3D TV experiences have all but vanished from the airwaves. 3D movies are tanking and even when the movies are hits, more people are seeing the films in 2D than 3D. Now 3D is set to claim another victim, the pretty cool Nintendo 3DS portable gaming handheld. It's still around, mind you, but Nintendo just dropped the price a whopping 32%.
Nintendo has sold over 800,000 units since the product launched in June. That sounds like a lot until you realize Microsoft sold 2.5 million Kinect for Xbox 360 motion capture devices in less than a month and 8 million in sixty days. The 3DS is not a hit.
I'm beginning to think that 3D ruins or dooms every enterprise it touches. Studios are pouring millions into both retrofitting films never shot for 3D and producing brand new ones. To do 3D well, you need two precisely aligned and very expensive cameras. You also need to design the sets and action in a highly specific way (mismanaged foreground and background objects can wreak havoc with a viewing audience). Studios may be charging a lot more to see these movies, but I bet they're spending a boatload more, too. Few of the recent 3D films have done especially well. I have avoided 3D sinceTron: Legacy, where the effect was absolutely pointless. The movie going public made the 3D Captain America a hit, but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, mostly on the back of the 2D film presentation. There are still more 3D movies in the pipeline, including a released "The Lion King" in 3D, but I expect movie studios to flee the 3D gimmick by early 2013.
3D HDTV has been a flop. It's not that no one bought these sets. Consumers snapped up the early models, and then they stopped buying. The prices have fallen so far that you can get a big screen 3D set for roughly the same price as you paid last year for a decent 2D HDTV. The problem is the content. There is very little, and once the studios stop producing 3D films, there will be virtually none. Cash-strapped networks are not going to step forward to produce 3D TV shows. No one cares, and I bet the investment in 3D technology and thousands of 3D glasses that will never be used has hurt more than a few consumer electronics manufacturers.
In the tablet space, only one manufacturer was crazy enough to add 3D. LG placed two cameras on the back of its G-Slateso you can shoot stereoscopic 3D video. Yes, this makes the G-Slate memorable, but where's the utility? Seriously, what would you do with a tablet than can shoot and play 3D? Would you ever be caught dead riding a train while wearing the ridiculous blue and red 3D glasses? The G-Slate, which actually managed a decent 3.5 rating from us, has not been heard of or seen again since its launch. Please raise your hand if you actually bought one of these and then slap the back of your head with the other if you've ever used the 3D camera.
There are 3D phones, too. The good news is that these devices, like the HTC EVO 3D from Sprint do not use glasses. Instead they employ a lenticular display that, when held just right, lets you see shockingly effective 3D images. I saw a prototype last year before Sprint actually released the phone and was astounded by the effect. Yet, I didn't want the phone. I still don't. The addition of 3D on the EVO, by the way, makes the screen a fair bit dimmer than one without a lenticular panel inside it. This is a big no-no for any good big-screen cell phone. The screen has to be bright enough and totally unobscured. No one looking for a cutting edge 4G phone wants a sub-par screen and I'd bet money that the standard HTC EVO 4G on Sprint is outselling the 3D model by a country mile.
Which brings us back to the Nintendo 3DS. Like the EVO 3D, it uses a letincular display to create an excellent 3D effect. The difference here is that that display is adjustable so it's easier to find your 3D sweet spot, and you can turn off the 3D by pulling that control all the way down. The portable gaming device is a lot of fun to use, and the 3D makes augmented reality a hoot. Too bad the stink is already on all things 3D. Nintendo's new devices are clearly caught up in it. No one lowers the price of new, cutting-edge technology a scant two months after release, especially not three months before the holiday buying seasons. This smells of desperation, not careful planning.
The new $169.99 price is, however, very nearly the right price for the 3DS ($99 would be perfect). In the short term, Nintendo may see a sales boost for the remainder of the summer, and, as some have noted, the pricing clearly undercuts the soon-to-be-released PlayStation Vita (which is expected to list for $249). In time, though, the Nintendo 3DS may just be seen as another really good iteration of the DS line. It'll also probably be the last one as phones continue to eat their way into the traditional mobile gaming device market.
As for 3D, I'd say it's claimed another victim. The only ones who have escaped unharmed from 3D are consumers. Sure they paid their money and got a little queasy, but they're ready to move on, easily forgetting this latest 3D craze—until the next one comes along, of course.
Nintendo has sold over 800,000 units since the product launched in June. That sounds like a lot until you realize Microsoft sold 2.5 million Kinect for Xbox 360 motion capture devices in less than a month and 8 million in sixty days. The 3DS is not a hit.
I'm beginning to think that 3D ruins or dooms every enterprise it touches. Studios are pouring millions into both retrofitting films never shot for 3D and producing brand new ones. To do 3D well, you need two precisely aligned and very expensive cameras. You also need to design the sets and action in a highly specific way (mismanaged foreground and background objects can wreak havoc with a viewing audience). Studios may be charging a lot more to see these movies, but I bet they're spending a boatload more, too. Few of the recent 3D films have done especially well. I have avoided 3D sinceTron: Legacy, where the effect was absolutely pointless. The movie going public made the 3D Captain America a hit, but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, mostly on the back of the 2D film presentation. There are still more 3D movies in the pipeline, including a released "The Lion King" in 3D, but I expect movie studios to flee the 3D gimmick by early 2013.
3D HDTV has been a flop. It's not that no one bought these sets. Consumers snapped up the early models, and then they stopped buying. The prices have fallen so far that you can get a big screen 3D set for roughly the same price as you paid last year for a decent 2D HDTV. The problem is the content. There is very little, and once the studios stop producing 3D films, there will be virtually none. Cash-strapped networks are not going to step forward to produce 3D TV shows. No one cares, and I bet the investment in 3D technology and thousands of 3D glasses that will never be used has hurt more than a few consumer electronics manufacturers.
There are 3D phones, too. The good news is that these devices, like the HTC EVO 3D from Sprint do not use glasses. Instead they employ a lenticular display that, when held just right, lets you see shockingly effective 3D images. I saw a prototype last year before Sprint actually released the phone and was astounded by the effect. Yet, I didn't want the phone. I still don't. The addition of 3D on the EVO, by the way, makes the screen a fair bit dimmer than one without a lenticular panel inside it. This is a big no-no for any good big-screen cell phone. The screen has to be bright enough and totally unobscured. No one looking for a cutting edge 4G phone wants a sub-par screen and I'd bet money that the standard HTC EVO 4G on Sprint is outselling the 3D model by a country mile.
Which brings us back to the Nintendo 3DS. Like the EVO 3D, it uses a letincular display to create an excellent 3D effect. The difference here is that that display is adjustable so it's easier to find your 3D sweet spot, and you can turn off the 3D by pulling that control all the way down. The portable gaming device is a lot of fun to use, and the 3D makes augmented reality a hoot. Too bad the stink is already on all things 3D. Nintendo's new devices are clearly caught up in it. No one lowers the price of new, cutting-edge technology a scant two months after release, especially not three months before the holiday buying seasons. This smells of desperation, not careful planning.
The new $169.99 price is, however, very nearly the right price for the 3DS ($99 would be perfect). In the short term, Nintendo may see a sales boost for the remainder of the summer, and, as some have noted, the pricing clearly undercuts the soon-to-be-released PlayStation Vita (which is expected to list for $249). In time, though, the Nintendo 3DS may just be seen as another really good iteration of the DS line. It'll also probably be the last one as phones continue to eat their way into the traditional mobile gaming device market.
As for 3D, I'd say it's claimed another victim. The only ones who have escaped unharmed from 3D are consumers. Sure they paid their money and got a little queasy, but they're ready to move on, easily forgetting this latest 3D craze—until the next one comes along, of course.
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