3DTV Gaming

Well, I finally got around to getting a 3D TV. More of an experiment, because the ideal TV still doesn't exist. I'll talk about the games I tried and how good the 3D is in today's blog post.

Before I get into all the games, I'll talk a bit about what my ideal 3D TV is and how this one stacks up to that vision. My ideal 3D TV is a passive glasses TV, with high contrast ratios, and doesn't lose my Full HD. All passive TVs have every other row reserved for each other eye. So, a 1080p image is really 540p for each eye. So, you lose the full HD quality. I want a 3D TV that does passive where the resolution isn't lost. Now, the TV I got is Vizio E3D320VX. It's pretty good and I only paid $400 for it. So, is it worth it?

I've had my bit of experience with 3D games back in the early 2000's. I had 3D glasses for my computer of which I played Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Half-Life, and Unreal Tournament in 3D. It was awesome then, and I can't wait for the graphics now.

The first thing I put in was a game I was already playing, Jak and Daxter. I forced my TV into 3D mode, and that didn't make the game 3D. I was starting to get confused. I didn't see any settings for 3D, but I know the game supports it. Well, I went back to the XMB and changed my video output settings to automatic. Well, surprise surprise, I saw 720p (3D) and 1080p (3D) now listed. I loaded up Jak and Daxter again, and boom it had 3D settings now, but everything was still 2D. The reason for this? The 3D depth was set to 0. I changed it to 100, and it was awesome.

Jak and Daxter looked good in 3D, but wasn't as amazing as I thought it would have been. Maybe because it was added in afterwards, or the simplicity of the charters. I dunno. But the game ran smoothly, and gave a little sense of depth. I didn't really help much with jumping between platforms, but it is good.

The next game I put in, was Pain. Pain is amazing in 3D! I was surprised. I was expecting the same detail as Jax and Daxter, but this was far better. The depth perception was wonderful. You could see and believe your character missed a target. But there are only a few modes that you can play in 3D, which was very disappointing.

Then I looked through my XMB and saw Super Stardust HD. Started that up, and the title screen alone was beautiful! The 3D doesn't add much to gameplay as the entire game is pretty much 2D, but the depth of the asteroids, and the roundness of the planet is just plain pretty. And when you die, because you will die in the game, the exposion has bits and pieces flying out of the screen. Even when you destroy asterooids, the bits come out at you. You can see asteroids over the horizon come up. This is the best use of 3D, yet.

And then I remembered I have WipEout HD. I only pulled off one quick race while I was on the phone, so I can't say much to this one, but the game is just beautiful in 3D. I'm craving more!

Below is a list of the games and the quality of the 3D.

Jak and Daxter Collection: 3/5
Some depth exists, but I wish it was done better. Jak II does a bit better, but it's still generally the same. Rarely will you see things pop out.

Pain: 4/5 
Not many modes in 3D, but the ones that are look great!

Super Stardust HD: 5/5 
By far the best experience I've had with 3D games!

Tune in for more games to come! Like WipEout HD, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and Uncharted 3.