Nice read. I really like this part: "But we worried about the camera, dizziness, and the player’s ability to judge depth – more on that later."
It's interesting that they were concerned with dizziness and the camera, concerns which seem to have unfortunately evaporated in most 3d games made since, to their detriment.
Well, mouse look was already in use with shooters at that point; it was well known. Maybe you mean behind the character third-person camera? Or just the concept on consoles?
Quake came out a few months earlier and had mouselook turned off by default (and I (somehow) played the whole game with only the keyboard). So I would agree that the concept wasn't well-known or established yet.
ND still seems to be concerned with it. I did not personally play The Last Of Us, but it's cinematic nature (I did watch a movie recut) makes me feel like they put a lot of work into those aspects.
Actually, "The Last of Us" is a pretty bad offender as far as camera and motion sickness go. For first person games, there's probably no solution, but third person games like "The Last of Us" could use some camera management that would eliminate or greatly reduce motion sickness. It doesn't. It's all manual and needs readjusting constantly. Which is better than the camera rotating constantly, but only slightly as the end effect while playing is almost the same.
EDIT: Crash Bandicoot on the other hand managed the camera extremely well without creating any motion sickness.
I never had issues with dizziness ... until games started using an over-the-shoulder camera. Basically, if the character is too far removed to the side, I stop connecting my input with their movement. It feels like I'm here and there's some random guy right next to my left who mimics my movements and also I'm incorporeal. It's a sort of uncanny valley territory - if the camera is just a bit to the side - no problem; if it's a far-away but centered behind the back - I'm fine; if it sort of tries to hover to the right, but swings around (Brutal Legend does it) - it doesn't bother me. But Gears of War is practically on the edge and I can't play it for long.
It's interesting that they were concerned with dizziness and the camera, concerns which seem to have unfortunately evaporated in most 3d games made since, to their detriment.