This year's Consumer
Electronics Show had a number of 3D TV technologies on show. And now
similar technology has turned up at GDC.
Graphics giant Nvidia has
developed technology than can give games a true 3D perspective using
polarizing glasses and stereoscopic display systems.
Nvidia's system uses software
drivers which split the video output into two views, which are
slightly out of alignment.
The demo system I was shown
had a 46inch television, which had a passive polarizing filter over
the screen. It takes each scan line from the images and selects it
either for the left or right eye.
The glasses map those views
to the appropriate eye. Without the glasses you see the two views.
Nvidia say developers don't
have to do any extra work for their games to work with the system -
but do have to follow some rules.
About 80 games will work with
the system at launch, which comes in a few weeks.
So how effective is it? From
the demo I was shown, very.
But what I was shown was
pretty limited - a menu screen for Age of Empires III, which
rendered a townscape into an impressive diorama which felt like you
could reach in and touch roof tops and people at the back of the
view.
The other demo was a flight
simulator and that proved very effective. A sense of depth when
flying is very valuable and it definitely aided the experience.
The TV it was being
demonstrated on cost more than $6,000 but I'm told there are
compatible displays for under $1,000.
Quite who is willing to pay
out for such an embryonic technology remains to be seen.
