Every summer I have the pleasure to see my kids for some weeks and do the things most parents do when their kids show up at home. After all the questions have been asked, wardrobe replaced and replenished, broken items replaced and electronic gadgets upgraded we face the ultimate question — how do we entertain them now? This year I had the great idea of letting him play a 3D game. This worked very well and offers some insight on the future of 3D gaming.

Norbert Hildebrand
Insight Media Analyst

First of all my son is not a professional game reviewer. So his opinions are based on his very personal views and interests in gaming. Other gamers have different gaming interests and will come to a different rating. Nevertheless, personal interests are what will eventually drive the adoption of 3D gaming technology. His interest in gaming (not always accepted as the best of use of time by his concerned father) is mainly in role play and strategy games. First person shooters and racing games are only of moderate interest to him.

Since we published our 3D Gaming report in December 2009, we have a nice computer set-up including 3D monitor and projector in our offices. Taking him with me to the office to let him play the Avatar game in 3D seemed as a good use of his expertise. He played the game in 2D and 3D on the monitor as well as on a projector system to get a better feel of the importance of the 3D effect.

There are many reviews of the Avatar game since its release in 2009 and the interested reader may refer to them for more info on the game. In short, it’s a puffed up version of the movie, where you have the choice of playing either side (Human or Na’vi) and after the completion of a series of tasks you can win the ultimate prize of ruling Pandora — which basically means you are done with the game. I don’t want to write about the game anyway, as I wanted to see the effect 3D has on the game.

First I let him play in 2D on a pretty new 1080p, 23", 3D capable TFT-LCD monitor. His first impression of the game was less than enthusiastic, which is similar to the ratings you may find on the Internet.

Using the Nvidia 3D Vision system, the monitor is capable of showing 120Hz 3D content with active glasses. After we turned on the 3D effect the perception of the game didn’t change (it remains a mediocre game in 2D or 3D), but his interest level increased dramatically as I didn’t hear a word from him for the next three hours. His assessment can be summarized in these three words: "This is cool".

For the next step I had to interrupt him and start up the 720p, 3D enabled DLP projector combined with a 200" high gain projector screen. Looking at the almost life size gaming action in 2D a few feet in front of him increased his interest level almost as much as 3D on the monitor. Still he believed that the 3D on the monitor was more interesting than 2D on a large screen. This time he couldn’t wait to play in 3D on the projector screen, leading to his next three words: "This is cooler". This was definitely the preferred viewing platform, as he stayed on the projector for the rest of the time.

During his playing time I made him use two types of active glasses, the Nvidia glasses with IR link and XpanD glasses using DLP link. Wearing glasses for several hours (9 hours in total including testing and set-up) he had no clear preference for either type. In fact it came down to personal preference as both glasses had drawbacks for him. While the Nvidia glasses applied pressure behind the ears, the XpanD glasses were heavy on the nose. During his gaming quest he switched glasses often to balance the two effects.

After completing the game I asked him what he thought of 3D for gaming. First of all he accepted all the quirks related to setting up the game for viewing in 3D as normal early adaptor issues. He clearly expects these issues to be solved in the future and be made more consumer friendly as 3D related set-up will be easier and the wide range of 3D parameters will be narrowed to a few. Secondly he clearly expects that 3D gaming is the future of gaming. He just wants to see a really good game in 3D. Once you get used to playing in 3D the 2D version is missing something. Increased immersion might be the closest description of his experience with 3D gaming.

The final question was — how much would 3D be worth for him? His answer, he wouldn’t pay more for 3D per say or replace any equipment he has. However, he would make sure that future equipment purchases would be compatible with 3D. Based on this last answer my wallet feels much safer for now.

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