While O.G. and Mike were over at Pax East, there were a few things to see at the Sony lounge at South by Southwest in Austin. I had the opportunity to speak with Victor Harris, Assistant Producer of Product Development for SCEA about Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Victor had a demo of the game to show me, but he first asked me if I wanted to see it in 2D or 3D.

I thought: "Why have hamburger when you can have steak?" and opted for the 3D version. The 3D glasses fit snugly over my own; lucky for me, I wear fairly small lenses. Victor played through the demo and demonstrated some of the new features of the game to me.

Unlike some 3D movies where the 3D is shoehorned in at the end of production, Uncharted 3 was intended to be in seen in 3D from the start. The level Victor showed me had Drake and Sully trying to escape from a burning building. The graphics were very impressive and the 3D effect worked great. Like earlier games in the series, Uncharted 3 goes for a realistic look, so I was a little dismayed to find some things in the environment didn’t look quite right; they had an odd shine to them. I pointed it out to Victor, who reminded me that this was a demo and the game was not due to be released until November. Fair enough.

Uncharted 3 will give Nathan Drake new ways to take out his adversaries, such as stealth takedowns. In one demonstration, Victor positioned Drake above a thug that was on the floor below him. Drake then leapt down and slammed the thug’s face into the floor. Victor explained that Drake will also perform context takedowns based on his surroundings, such as slamming a guy’s head into a nearby table or wall.

Victor also talked about the game’s fire effects, which looked great and added to the cinematic feel of the demo, with smoke and embers flying about as Drake navigated the treacherous building. Drake even reacted to the fire, raising an arm to shield his eyes whenever he got too close. The game had a very cinematic feel, parts of the building dramatically fell around Drake and Sully as they made their escape.

The glimpse of Uncharted 3 that I got at SXSW gave me the impression that at least on a visual level, Naughty Dog is not content to rest on its laurels. It remains to be seen whether the gameplay stands up to the graphical polish, but if nothing else, Uncharted 3 is looking very good right now.