The PlayStation 3 version of Mortal Kombat features stereoscopic 3D support, but it’s no ordinary implementation of 3D — while in 3D mode, gamers sans glasses can play comfortably, too.
"Most games try to heavily emphasize the 3D effect, try to make the world feel very, very deep, and really make that 3D effect pop," said John Greenberg, lead graphics engineer at NetherRealm, during a recent conference call with PlayStation Universe. "We aimed for something a lot more subtle."
While in 3D mode, the background will appear a tad blurry to gamers without glasses, but the character models should be crystal clear.
"We keep it really comfortable so that you can play for a long time without getting eye fatigue, and so that people who don’t have 3D glasses [can also enjoy it]," continued Greenberg. "We recognize that the game is often a party game, and that a lot of people might be sitting there playing together, and that not everyone sitting there will necessarily have glasses. The other people in the room can watch, play, and enjoy without having those glasses."
To create a more subtle 3D effect, Greenberg and his team greatly reduced the depth and the amount of parallax in the image. Also, Mortal Kombat runs as 60 Hz at all times, in stereoscopic 3D or regular 2D. The end result is a "comfortable" 3D effect intended to increase immersion and draw gamers one dimension further into the Mortal Kombat universe.
Mortal Kombat hits stores on April 19, 2011 in North America and April 21, 2011 in Europe.