Settling for flimsy two-dimensional representations of nearly naked swimsuit models has been the best-case scenario for most guys but Sony & Sports Illustrated are about to change that. At CES Sony will be showing off clips from a 3D video version of the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue that they have co-created. The video will be available starting February 15th for purchase or rental through the PlayStation 3 and Bravia web-enabled, 3D compatible TVs and Blu-Ray players.
This is obviously a big win for guys that want a three dimensional super model in their living room but Sony is also hoping it will be a win for Sony with increased interest in 3D TV’s that will result from better content options according to Sony VP Michael Aragon:
There’s sort of a chicken-and-egg problem going on right now, where the device penetration has been fairly low, so the studios have been fairly slow to release 3-D content. Our expectation and our road map on this whole thing has been that this is going to be a little bit slower adoption than HD. While we might not be making tons of money on the 3-D content, it seeds a universe of product that we have in 3-D.
There are still some big hurdles for 3D TV to overcome to get meaningful penetration into US households. The costs of the TV’s and the accompanying glasses continues to be a barrier to purchase which leaves studios less interested in creating content. That said, you need look no farther than the early days of the internet to see how powerful nearly naked (or naked) women can be in driving adoption of new technology so Sony just might be on the right track here.
You can read more about the state of 3D TV here
