3D Glasses for Gaming – Yup, no joke!
“I’ll be back”…Look like a Terminator while gaming.
Earlier this month at CES I had the opportunity to check out active 3D glasses for gaming, and let me tell you I was skeptical. I said to myself “blue lens, red lens, so 70′s…” but I went to see them with an open mind. Funny thing, on my way I ran into Ryan Shrout and he was cool enough to check them out with me!
Ryan and I playing Left 4 Dead on a 73″ Mitsubishi HDTV
So here is the basic concept: You go buy a $300+ 120Hz monitor, a $199 pair of funky glasses with a transceiver, once you have this, you will be able to experience active 3D gaming (provided you have the right graphics card, driver and the game is supported).
I have to say, playing Left 4 Dead on a 73″ HDTV is an awesome experience, no 3D glasses required for a great gaming gorging.
On to donning the glasses and entering the 3D ZONE:
My initial thoughts were that this technology would make most people’s stomachs very queasy. Not the case for Ryan and I and he did some testing at a local Best Buy and it didn’t seem to be the case for most people either.
First issue – Non issue.
My second concern was that it would destroy the game play. Well, I honestly can’t say this was the case either, while the experience didn’t knock me off my feet and make me want to go buy a pair, I was impressed with the gore and guts flying past my head in Left 4 Dead.
Second issue – Not sold yet, but not a show stopper.
The third concern I had was with pricing, is the experience really worth an upfront investment of $450+?
Well, read Ryan’s story for more background and you be the judge.
I do still feel that this technology (while exhibited all over CES09) is still not ready for primetime, but I want to know your opinions too.
Is this 3D Gaming technology ready for the consumers living room and does it have enough wind in its sails to be successful in a down economy? I for one don’t think so, but you be the judge. What are your thoughts?
EDIT: If you read Italian, you might enjoy this detailed review from Hardware Upgrade…or skip to the end and see the results on frame rates.
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
I have been waiting for some great technologies to come around that produce a great 3d gaming experience. Its a bummer that you need a 120hz monitor because I just purchased a new samsung 24″ 60hz monitor about a month ago and for the price tag of the monitor and the 3d glasses its not worth it yet. If someone could somehow take a normal monitor and incorporate the 3d glasses effect into the screen itself so that glasses aren’t needed I would be jumping at a $500-$600 price tag.
@Kevin – Cnet posted an article alluding to “sore eyes” and 3D gaming – check it out here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10212542-1.html?tag=mncol;title
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/televisions/0,39029474,49300569,00.htm
Nvidia has had this for ages…. but if amd had it i would consider going back. so get it! the only reason im running a gtx 295 instead of two 4890s is the stereo 3d. oh and cuda and physx but if u get havok running thatll be almost as good and wont matter then. i just go with the most powerful that has stereo. (love my 3d vision discover setup)
I do think 3D Gaming is the future.
Whether it is ready right now and its price point is an interesting question but I believe the people who buy ATI 5970s are the very kind of people who want jump all over 3D. Consider that the movie Avatar has also seriously improved awareness of 3D products, the demand for 3D in your homes will increase.
I for one, am interested in 3D and would like to see ATI at least have this option made available to ATI users when you’re shelling out for a high end graphics card.
Nvidia’s cards may lack value for money but its feature set in the form of PhysX and now with 3D makes it a more compelling purchase.
Put it this way, if I’m paying a fortune for a graphics card, don’t I want to also enjoy all the bells and whistles? It’s like buying a Ferrari, suddenly your car doesn’t have a seat warmer or automatic mirror adjusters.
For the high end segment, raw speed is no longer the only determining factor especially with few games nowadays pushing the performance envelope.
When I buy a graphics card, I want a certain degree of future proofness. And the future of 3d is upon us soon.
I hope ATI doesn’t just focus on what consumers of TODAY want but also of tomorrow and having development in these areas would be pretty important to maintain market relevance. Havok right now is pretty much a joke :/
My friend and I were recently discussing about technology, and how integrated it has become to our daily lives. Reading this post makes me think back to that discussion we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.
I don’t mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside… I just hope that as memory gets cheaper, the possibility of uploading our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It’s a fantasy that I dream about all the time.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running R4 DS SysBro)
I to am thinking of going back to NVIDIA! My monitor is on the blink so I am thinking of getting the Acer GD 245 HQ 24 “ 120hz, cant get true 3D from ATI so Nvidia 3D is my only option,
Zulman make a 3d monitor that you use polarized glasses but doesn’t sound that good on the feed back
I’m so glad they rereleased this technology! I had my first pair of 3d lcd shutter glasses in 02 I think and I loved it! Gotta love teh old CRT with 120Hz refresh rate! It really depends on the game that you play and you have to adjust the settings right for the depth otherwise it still looks flat. Sacrifice and Drakan were a few of the best games that I played with it and it was always fun replaying some other old games like halflife with them. One of my friends accidently broke my glasses and I couldn’t find anyone who sold the glasses so I just went back to regular monovision gaming till now. I AM going to get a pair of these and maybe a good LCD monitor to go with it. I accidently got an ATI video card when I recently upgraded my computer becuase I didn’t realize it was only Nvidia that supported the 3d technology so I’m going to sell my 4850 and get a good Nvidia card and the glasses and relive the experience. It really is nice and just isn’t the same without them.
3D gaming is ready for the consumer’s, but unfortunately AMS isn’t… it’s a shame, because 3D is a great value added to gaming, GPU are now porwerfull enought to grant it, and 120hz is slowly becoming the standard.
The PS3 and the Nvidia solution will popularize 3D now that Cameron reminded us it was available.
My next screen will be a 120 or 240hz, and if there is no satisfying 3D solution from Ati i’ll have to buy nvidia…
I’m a 3D Vision user and I love it. It works.
Although I have a set, I would love to see AMD joining the market. Competition is nearly always benificial to the consumer – right?