Last week the nice peeps at Sony called and offered to send me to Sydney for the night so I could attend their launch party for Sony 3D. I said yes for a couple of reasons:

1) I have an inability to say 'no' to any invitation. I find myself at all sorts of ballsy parties in the outer suburbs because of this affliction.
2) I've never been to a social event in Sydney before. I'd heard they were populated with beautiful tangerine princesses with impossibly straight hair and I had to see for myself if it were true.



3) I have a strong affection for canapes.
4) There was an outside chance of being in the same suburb as Cate Blanchett.

And so it was that I rolled up to an utterly beautiful house overlooking Rose Bay on Wednesday evening to attend the Sony 3D House Party.

The gist of it was that a family had won a competition to be 'Australia's first 3D family'. As part of their prize their home was kitted out with an array of Sony 3D products, including a a 3D compatible PlayStation 3 and a set of 3D stereoscopic games, a 3D Blu-ray player and Bravia flatscreen and one of Sony's first 3D digital cameras, the Nex-5.

Members of the media, a sprinkling of celebs and distributors were then invited in to the house for the evening to experience the new products, which were all set up in different sections of the house.

Each guest was given a map so they could navigate their way around the technology and not stumble into a neighbouring property.



A by-product of this is that there were three fairly overwhelmed children wandering around their family home, marveling at all the strangers in their kitchen.

***

After trailling a few of the products I decided the thing I was most impressed with was the "Sweep Panorama" function on Sony's new 3D digital camera. The travel-style photos that they displayed at the party were amazing. Panorama shots of people standing in front of landmarks such as the Roman Forum were fairly mind-boggling when viewed in 3D on a flat-screen ... all of a sudden holiday slide nights might not be such a shit idea after all.

The 3D Playstation 3 games were pretty gob-smacking as well (though one of the smaller children stumbled off looking a little green after playing it for too long. Having said that I think I also saw him inhale a whole wheel of brie, so perhaps the technology is not solely responsible for his state).

Half way through the evening the CEO of Sony gave a speech, as did Alex Perry. It turns out Sony are fast-tracking shipment of the 3D Bravias so that they're here in time for the World Cup, which I'm sure would trigger excitement in me if I gave a tinker's cuss about sport. We then watched a Guy Sebastian music video in 3D and the Rogue Traders performed.

Here are some happy snaps I took at the event. Apologies for the crummy quality ... on the upside they're so blurry that there's a chance that if you view them with a pair of special glasses they'll actually render in 3D.

First up we have Alex Perry watching a 3D movie with Kerri-Anne Kennerley. The thing that breaks my heart is how Kerri-Anne's better half John is trying to have a watch, but he can't get a look in. I've added a helpful red arrow so you can see who I'm talking about:


"CAN'T SEE"

In this photo, The Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges is interviewed while a confused soccer player watches on, apparently eating a bag of crisps.



Here, two of the children who live in the house are totally bewildered to find the Rogue Traders on their front lawn.



I also discovered this radical cake. I took a photo of it because I like to imagine what the brief for this cake was. Something along the lines of "Okay ... I want a mountain the colour of blue green algae with some improbable hedges, a dangerously steep ladder and a structure that looks like Hi-5's headquarters on top".



At the end of the night I stumbled into the kitchen to discover this guy carving various fruits. For no apparent reason.



And at that point, I realised my night couldn't possibly get any better and it was time to head home.

Sydney, thank you for having me. You know how to throw a magnificently random party. I promise not to stare uncomfortably at Kerri-Anne and eat all your canapes if you'll have me back again sometime soon.

For some better quality images of the event, please click through the image gallery above.