Competition is good. Flash has long been a common standard for web video and games, but has also been criticized as resource-hungry, unstable, and lacking in features. Response to these issues has typically been slow, as there was no multimedia platform capable of challenging Flash.
This is changing, however, with the rise of HTML 5 and the war of words between Adobe and Apple. Flash video was recently improved by adding support for GPU acceleration, and it appears the platform will soon be taking another major step forward by including 3D graphics. Speculation about the addition of the new API was confirmed when observers noticed that the Max 2010 conference schedule includes a presentation that will unveil the specifics about the addition of 3D.
To be clear, this refers to 3D graphics as we have known them for the last decade and is not stereoscopic 3D. There are otherwise no details available about what features will be included. However, this new development is guaranteed to have a major impact on gaming. Flash games remain incredibly popular and the inclusion of 3D will unlock genres, such as the first person shooter, that developers have so far been unable to explore using Adobe's product.