3-D video gaming aspires to become spectacle
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — For movie goers, watching a 3-D film is a relatively easy experience. Audiences didn’t need to do anything other than pay a few extra bucks and slip on a pair of special glasses to see 3-D versions of “Avatar” or “Alice in Wonderland.” For gamers, however, enjoying a 3-D game requires a bigger investment on their part.
For example, to play the popular online fantasy game “World of Warcraft” in 3-D, an inhabitant of Azeroth would need hundreds of dollars worth of gear: a robust computer setup with a compatible graphics card, monitor capable of displaying 3-D and a pair of 3-D spectacles. At this early stage, it’s an expense that many virtual adventurers have yet to adopt.
Dozens of game developers, business executives and other stereoscopic 3-D gaming advocates converged at a Universal City hotel this week to explore that very conundrum and witness the latest in 3-D games at the first-ever 3-D Gaming Summit. The consensus was that whether gamers push play on 3-D or not, the home 3-D revolution is already in motion.