3-D Games: How we get virtual reality in the home?

A first of its kind happened recently in Los Angeles — a place known for many firsts of many kinds.

The first 3-D Gaming Summit was held to discuss how video and computer games could make the conversion to stereoscopic 3-D (aka S3-D) that appears to be sweeping movies and television.  With Samsung and Panasonic already producing 3-D television sets, and American-based cable networks planning new cable ventures to broadcast entirely in 3-D, what does this mean for console games that connect to these television sets — and what could it mean if the gamer (who presumably is also the movie-goer and television watcher) starts to want such “in your face” dimensionality with in all of their gaming experiences, including MMOGs?

You can read a write-up on this meeting at the Huffington Post.  What I found interesting from this piece was the conclusion that because of the 3-D graphics inside of the game, gamers would expect 3-D presentation that brings the game “out” to them.  Others assert gamers will not want to wear the stereoscopic glasses necessary for the effect to be perceived (as without it, even a PS3’s great graphics will be significantly reduced, almost to Wii levels).

But more so all of this got me thinking about Nintendo’s attempt to bring virtual reality immersion to video game playing with Virtual Boy — a head-mounted display set that was cumbersome and tended to show all graphics as reddish.  Fifteen years ago, the technology did not make the splash Nintendo had hoped, and since then no one has really attempted home virtual reality immersion technology: focusing instead on ultra-realistic graphics or naturalistic interfaces or internet-based gaming.

Could the push to stereoscopic 3-D be the next Virtual Boy?  Or could it actually be a successful means by which to bring to the home the semblance of virtual reality immersion that right now only exists in the lab or in special arcades?