GameGrade3D Beta Released!

Today is the day!  We are very proud to launch the beta release of GameGrade3D.  As mentioned earlier, this is a gamer driven database of video games, and their stereoscopic 3D compatibility with multiple 3D solutions on the market.  Profiled options include DDD, iZ3D, Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision, and native 3D (e.g. AMD HD3D) solutions.

While the concept and database are sourced from a prototype called MTBS’ 3D Game Analyzer, GameGrade3D has several new features and a new algorithm for rating games in stereoscopic 3D.

New features include:

1. When selecting anomalies, gamers can attach screenshots and share comments to help illustrate the problem.
2. Each submission can have a driver profile attached.  While this is most applicable for DDD TriDef Ignition profiles, gamers can upload .TXT files for Nvidia and iZ3D equivalents where applicable.
3. The certification mechanism has been revamped to increase fairness and accuracy for all applicable 3D solutions.
4. Submissions can include a subjective score in addition to the measured approach.
5. Gamers can edit their submissions.  It is no longer necessary to start from scratch every time a new anomaly is discovered or a correction needs to be made.  This functionality is nearly finished, and will be available within the next few days.  In the meantime, you can overwrite an earlier submission by filling in the same game name and specs (you can only overwrite your own work!).
6. A “Native 3D” classification has been created to acknowledge titles based on AMD’s HD3D implementation, as well as titles that have additional 3D options built in without the need for a special 3D driver.

The previous version of this software called “MTBS’ 3D Game Analyzer” was often criticized as being too hard on games that had their convergence locked or didn’t offer out of screen effects – especially because these titles could still deliver positive 3D experiences.  We also recognized that out of screen effects are very important to a lot of gamers, and had to acknowledge this factor.

The solution was to only score games according to their quality assurance – the ability to maintain most if not all the eye candy settings in 3D, and to have the fewest remaining anomalies possible.  Once we have this information, the certification award is tagged with the visual flexibility that the game offers in 3D and under what circumstances.  In other words, gamers will know which 3D options they have available to them, but flexibility or lack thereof won’t be treated as a quality assurance penalty.  This also gets around the problem of game developers making artistic choices which wouldn’t have matched up with the older QA score.

If you like GameGrade3D (and we hope you do), please reach out to your favorite industry players and encourage them to help fund this effort.  There is a lot more we would like to add to the service and this website to help drive the success of stereoscopic 3D gaming.

Finally, this is a public beta, and some features are still getting completed.  Please share your remarks and bug reports in the GameGrade3D discussion forum.  Thanks for your continued support!