@RilleL: OK, that seems like a pretty good explanation - thanks for the link as well - I will definitely be watching these. Thanks all for the responses!
And just a note about the comparison to Second Life - yes there are people who use it as a chatroom as a few of you said, but there are a LOT of people who use it to create and build - people have recreated cities in SL, or have made Star Trek simulators, or use it to test out fashion ideas - so I wouldn't dismiss it outright. I was making a comparison in terms of the sandbox analogy.
I still don't see why everyone is drooling over 3D. It just seems like a gimmicky way to perhaps reduce piracy and justify higher prices for the future...
@0suited: I thought you were entitled to your opinion until you said "Everyone who thinks otherwise is WRONG", at which point I concluded that you're an idiot, and that everyone who thinks otherwise is WRONG.