How 3D TV is Revolutionizing Video Gaming

3D technology has come to home television. But are consumers ready for it?

Surely 3D television will in time revolutionize the TV experience, including for gaming. But it'll likely be a slow revolution, as for a number of reasons more people will wait than will upgrade to 3D in the short term. Let's first look at those reasons, before examining how video gaming fits into the picture.

1. 3D is coming too close on the tail of high definition television. With so many people having just shelled out the money to upgrade to HD TV, not many of them will accept the idea that that's now obsolete. Unfortunately, upgrading from a non-3D TV to a 3D TV isn't the equivalent of a software upgrade; it means starting from scratch with an entirely new television. Current 3D technology requires two separate images to be projected, and a TV capable of further fine tuning to enhance the image and reduce blurring. You can't alter the HD TV you have to achieve this. You have to buy a new unit.

2. Most people will find 3D on a small or medium-size screen no big deal, and not worth paying for. So if you're going to get a 3D TV at all, you'll likely be buying a large to very large screen TV. The number of people who can afford that isn't all that great. Standard-size HD TVs look a lot better than standard-size non-HD TVs, so the HD TV market had more room for people with different levels of disposable income.

3. Maybe some people see it as a trivial issue, but a lot of folks hate the 3D glasses. They can be heavy and fatiguing. Not to mention expensive. Expect to have to shell out $150 or more per pair. And not just one pair, but enough pairs for everyone in the family to watch TV together. Not an easy sell.

4. 3D makes some people sick, from mild queasiness to serious motion sickness. There goes another share of the market.

5. Adding 3D obviously enhances the image in that sense, but at the same time there's a loss of image quality in that the image is dimmer, as each eye gets only half the light from the screen.

These factors won't stop 3D television by any means, but they will slow the pace of the 3D revolution. But if 3D television has an ace up its sleeve, it may well be its appeal for video gamers.

Most people who think of 3D TV probably associate it with watching movies and maybe sporting events. Consider the impact Avatar had in theaters, for instance. But while people who experience 3D TV demonstrations of movies and television shows tend to nod in approval, people who experience 3D TV demonstrations of video games tend to babble excitedly about how amazing it all is. It's really with something interactive like that that it hits home how different it feels to be in the middle of the action.

And think about the different levels of commitment of the different activities. Watching TV is something a lot of people do when they're half paying attention. They'll watch enough to get the gist of what's going on, but they may well be doing other things at the same time. Maybe they're eating, chatting with friends, texting, etc. In any case, looking away from the screen a fair amount. For that kind of activity, the altering of perception with the glasses has more potential to be a nuisance.

But when you're playing a video game, you're more fully engrossed in the activity. You're not combining the activity with other activities for which the glasses are a hindrance. So in that sense, ironically the success of "Avatar" in the theater probably provides more evidence as to how people will experience video games on 3D TV than how they'll experience movies on 3D TV, because people tend to similarly commit all or almost all of their focus to what's happening on the screen in a movie theater.

3D TV will significantly alter how people watch standard content on television, but it'll have an even more dramatic impact on how people play video games. So it's the serious gamers who could well provide a lot of the impetus to get the 3D revolution rolling.