• All PC Games in 3D; Courtesy Nvidia

    All PC Games in 3D; Courtesy Nvidia

    Techtree News Staff, Apr 30, 2008 1526 hrs IST

    It may well be the best thing to happen to gaming (next to virtual reality); with the Nvidia software driver, any PC with an Nvidia GPU will be able to run a game in normal and 3D mode.

    mail share

PC gamers can look forward to an exciting summer. If Nvidia continues to work diligently on its new software driver that is lined up, soon, all PC games will be playable in 3D! Needless to say, you'll need to have an nVidia graphics card in your system.

This new driver from Nvidia will enable any PC with an Nvidia graphics processor to run a game in normal mode, as well as in 3D, for which gamers will need to wear a pair of (cool) 3D glasses. With the software driver installed, gamers will be able to have a three-dimensional left eye- and right eye- view of the game, when looking through their 3D glasses.

Reportedly, game developers need not do anything for PC gamers to avail the 3D gaming facility. It's only the users who will need to own an Nvidia graphics card along with the in-the-making software driver.

The challenge for Nvidia is making the glasses widely available at retail, as well as turning the silly-looking lenses into something actually cool and 'not as geeky-looking,' said Drew Henry, general manager (Media Communications Processor Group) of Nvidia.

Some gamers believe that 4D gaming, as in virtual reality, would be the ultimate thing to achieve for gaming. However, widely available 3D gaming is probably the best thing that could happen to the gaming scene for now. Nvidia is still working on the retailing practices that it would incorporate for their new software driver, along with attempts to make the 3D glasses look snazzy.

Follow Techtree on Twitter

Related Links
ARM Intros Software for 3D on Mobiles
Bored? Get Yourself a Cyber Maid!
Games for Windows Live Now Free
Tag keywords
3D PC games virtual reality



Discussion Board
(5) Comments
Anonymous
,jo, on May 01, 2008 04:36 AM
4D, from a developer's point of view, is is the progression of Life in time. It is where every tangible object in your game is living and constantly changing. As a result, change becomes an integral part of 4D graphics. But how does all of this become possible? The answer is the dynamic rendering of procedural textures. Sounds complicated, but it's not. Let me explain; Procedural textures are textures which are linked to an algorithm. Instead of the texture being drawn pixel by pixel, you define the way these pixels have to be lit to produce the texture you want. When the procedural texture is placed somewhere, you utilize an engine for actually generating these bitmap textures. They have life. They can change in a way you define them, especially through time. In a lot of the current games, the randomized textures method is used. Developers use one bitmap and just map it on randomly in the environment to create the design for that specific area. Every texture is not defined or unique. So, the method to create procedural textures allows for more control.
Report abuse
Rich
,CenterCorner, on May 01, 2008 03:22 AM
"4D gaming".. lolzzzz....
Report abuse
Jayesh Limaye
,Techtree Tech Labs, on Apr 30, 2008 08:53 PM
People who are new to gaming probably do not know, and those who are veterans do probably know that this fad is not really new. Have you ever head of StereoVision drivers from NVIDIA? These were the NVIDIA Detonator drivers that supported 3D glasses. Asus used to manufacture graphics cards that supported this 3D technology which we are talking about right now, and that was way back in 2000. Graphics cards with 3D glasses/goggles was a short-lived fad because the game had to be rendered at double the normal frame per second - one for each eye, at a slight parallax to simulate human 3D vision. The graphics cards back then were not really powerful enough and the user had to often remain content in playing the games at low resolutions such as 800x600. Now that the graphics cards are really fast, we can hope a revival of sorts in this interesting field.
Report abuse
Rohila Pathan
,Pathankot, on Apr 30, 2008 08:43 PM
Duplicate article, I see the same thing in the Future Watch section on the main page.
Report abuse
Grawpy
,The Dark Forest, on Apr 30, 2008 04:52 PM
"you'll need to have an Nvidia card embedded in your computer's CPU" That's the wierdest statement I've heard till now!!! :D Unless of course they are talking about CUDA like futuristic CPU...
Report abuse

Opinion Poll