Analysis: 3D Entertainment the Next Big Thing at CES 2009

Authored by Jay Baage on January 9, 2009 - 11:17am.

Las Vegas – What is the next big thing at CES 2009? To me, the answer is clear: 3D Entertainment. Disney and Dreamworks have made commitments to produce movies in 3D and sneak peaks of the coming Dreamworks Animation 3D movie Monsters vs. Aliens look amazing, both on the big screen during Sony’s keynote yesterday and on HDTV in Intel’s booth. Mark Cuban even called 3D movies "The LSD of 2009" during a CES interview. And 3D is making its way into video games as well. I played Guitar Hero in 3D thanks to NVIDIA’s 3D Vision kit, which combines high-tech wireless glasses, a high-power IR emitter and advanced software to create a stereoscopic 3D experience for hundreds of existing PC games. It was a great experience! I also checked out a football game displayed in 3D and it really represents a whole new way of watching sports on the big as well as small screen. The only drawback to the current 3D technologies is that most systems still require the viewer to wear special glasses, which does feel a little gimmicky. However, there are some glasses-free 3D displays in development. Bottom line: I have no doubt that 3D represents a new era for the movie, television and gaming industries.