Not since Back to the Future Part 2 premiered, have we been so excited about 3D. And now it’s here in Sydney, we went out to experience the units for ourselves.
Located in an subterranean level of the Greater Union cinema complex, Beyond Gaming and Internet Cafe implies the perfect setting: a place where gamers can meet in style.
In an area which boasts 90 lounge style seats in over 400sqm of gaming heaven -there are PCs, Xbox 360’s and 3D monitors on show in an attempt to become Sydney’s premier gaming destination.
Equal sides of the room are devoted to a range of gaming and casual web surfing activities. Some monitors are regular 22”, but quite a few have been devoted to 3D.
“The shark still looks fake”
Thankfully 3D has come along since we watched Marty Mcfly duck from the oncoming jaws of a 3D great white monster in BTTF: Part 2.
Granted, you’ll need to stand in the perfect sweet spot (to ensure you’re facing the angle of 3D perception) to catch a glimpse of any 3D creation, but when you do – it’s a welcoming and somewhat strange view at first: 3D images (from either film or games) tend to pop out before your eyes without the physical constraints of specialist 3D eyewear.
We did notice that if you sit too far to any one side, you’ll quickly give yourself a 3D headache, not to mention 3D eye strain.
German technical know-how
The 3D monitors operate under some impressive technical specs – we’ve thankfully passed gimmick territory by now. Using auto stereoscopic displays, the units use a German patented 4-views/6 views Parallex barrier, combined with custom 3D VM software and applications to turn 2D pictures into 3D living creatures that literally pop out from the screen.
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| Hard to capture the 3D effect in a still shot, the technology is rather impressive |
Graphics grunt + $$$ money = 3D love
A few people at the launch brough up the idea of 3D applications for 3D adult movies, which we're fairly sure are already on the drawing board. Still, the cost of this technology is not here yet. Ben Liu, Managing Director of 3D motion admitted that you’ll still need a heck of a graphics card to carry the bulk of the GPU grunt to process the multiple views needed for 3D rendering. A typical 22" 3D motion monitor will run you about $2000, a giant leap from the $400 you might need for your better than average non-3D monitor.
But rest assured; as the hardware gets better and the prices go down – this is likely to the biggest thing in future of PC gaming, no doubts about it.
Plenty of 3D titles on offer
With a whole host of 3D games on offer, including Call of Duty 2, Counterstike: Source, Half life 2: Deathmatch, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and World of Warcraft - there's bound to be something here for everyone. Better yet, specialist 3D titles are not required as the monitor can handle most of that job (some exceptions may apply though).