Surround sound is impressive but how about immersing yourself completely in your favourite footie sim, racing game or first person shooter? Unlike 3D home movies and TV shows, 3D gaming is here today, with some of the biggest games in the world ready to burst out of your screen and into your life. And the best tech is yet to come...
3D space - the final frontier
Did the movie Avatar whet your appetite for 3D? As usual, gamers have been there, done that and got the T-shirt (and probably not changed it since, but that's a different story). The planet's most popular online RPG, World of Warcraft, has been available in 3D for nearly a year, and dozens more hit franchises are lined up to pop out during 2010. This isn't the dodgy red/green 3D of the 1980s, but full colour, High Def, high speed action that looks as good as the latest Hollywood blockbusters - coming to a computer and console near you in the blink of an eye.
Screen test
3D gaming systems vary - and not all are compatible - but at the very least you'll need a 3D TV or monitor; active shutter glasses; and a 3D game that works on your PC or console. Many new TVs for 2010 can handle the 120Hz signals required for 3D gaming, and if you get one with the latest HDMI 1.4 connectors, you'll futureproof yourself for 3D Blu-ray movies, too. 3D monitors for computers also are getting more common every day.
Active shutter glasses look like normal sunglasses that have been thoroughly beaten with an ugly stick. Their plasticky, bulky design is thanks to them using small, see-through LCD screens instead of glass lenses. Each side of the specs flickers between dark and light too fast to notice, hundreds of times a second. But when synchronised with a compatible TV, using a small infrared emitter unit, the illusion of stereoscopic 3D action can be mind-blowing.
Pick a platform
If you're itching to get 3D gaming right now, simply invest in a gaming PC (Windows 7 ideally) with a good graphics card and let rip. There are hundreds of 3D-optimised titles out there, including some of the most popular games around: BioShock 2, Dark Void, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and - naturally - the game of Avatar. There's plenty of affordable 3D kit from well-respected names like Nvidia too, although not all software and hardware works together seamlessly to give the same high quality 3D effect.
Of course, 3D gaming will really take off when it hits living room consoles. Avatar is the first high profile 3D game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, using Nvidia's 3D Vision glasses. Many more will become available during 2010, including WipEout and Gran Turismo 5. However, it's still very early days for 3D console gaming, and while both Sony and Microsoft are supporting 3D software, it's not yet clear which will get the best games and most advanced 3D kit.
A firmware update to allow your PS3 to play 3D games including the above titles when they come out is now available from the PlayStation website.
Another exciting development comes from Nintendo, who have announced that they’re doing what didn’t seem possible, and bringing 3D to a handheld console, and apparently without any need for 3D glasses. Little is known about Nintendo’s new 3DS– even the name is not confirmed – beyond that it will be released sometime between now and early 2011. More information will be revealed at the E3 game show in June, so if you are a fan of Nintendo’s baby console, this is definitely a space worth watching.
Win-win-win situation
While 3D gaming is great on normal controllers, just consider how awesome it will be using new gesture and motion controllers coming soon from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. All three companies are working on systems that put you right inside the game, sensing the position of your head, arms and legs to create totally immersive gaming experiences.
Looking further forward, 3D gaming promises to ditch the geeky specs altogether. Head-tracking tech will make it possible for full-size screens to focus images directly at your eyes, while smart new thin film displays will bring convincing 3D gaming to handheld consoles and mobile phones. All of which makes traditional 2D games fall just a little flat.
To find out more about the future of 3D gaming, take a look at this short clip
The future of gaming
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