No unfair edge with 3D - MotorStorm dev

The developer behind stereoscopic 3D-enabled racer MotorStorm: Apocalypse has insisted gamers who own a flashy 3DTV will not benefit from an unfair advantage.

In July Sony senior director Mick Hocking described in detail why playing PS3 exclusives Gran Turismo 5 and MotorStorm: Apocalypse in 3D is better.

"You can judge or brake a distance to a corner that much better than you could before," Hocking said.

"You can position your car on a track with greater certainty. You can judge relative speed to the other cars or relative speed to the track better than you could before."

"With this [3D] your brain can pick up more cues from the digital image because there's more information there, because we have depth. We find that players can play this a bit more accurately than they could before.

"For our hardcore, this could mean a competitive edge. Racing simulations, if you can get a better lap time, in shooters, if you can get more kills, this all appeals to our hardcore gamers. Anything that gives them a competitive edge is worth having."

While MotorStorm: Apocalypse's game director Matt Southern admitted 3D makes playing games "more intuitive", he insisted there is no advantage to be gained from it.

"I'd be very keen to stress that that doesn't mean it's unfair on people who don't have a 3D display, which, when we launch is still likely to be the considerable majority of users.

"It does make the racing experience a little more instinctive. Judging racing lines, approaching bends, judging your position in space in relation to the AI or the online opponents, is all that little bit more intuitive and easy to understand.

"The analogy would be, if you're playing a game on a fifty-inch high definition set and someone else is playing it on a CRT with a coat hanger hanging out the back. The analogy essentially works in the same way. The flashier your kit the more flattering it is and the more likely it is to make games that involve understanding and judging the environment a little more intuitive.

"But we're never going to be in a situation where the only people setting the best scores online are the ones with stereoscopic 3D. They're just going to be the ones with their jaws closest to the floor."

Southern was speaking to Eurogamer ahead of his developer session at Eurogamer Expo 2010. MotorStorm: Apocalypse

Oli Welsh went hands-on in June. Game's out next year.