The E-D 3D Glasses by eDimensional

We recently received a pair of eDimensional's E-D 3D Glasses to take for a test drive. After trying this product on several MMORPG's (and a few non-MMORPG titles), I have to admit - I am totally blown away. Initially I was very skeptical of a 3D system that would use my existing monitor to create 3D effects...but that was soon dissolved by the amazing performance of this product. Let's get right down to the details:

"The initial installation of the 3D Glasses was very simple and straight-forward."

Installation The initial installation of the 3D Glasses was very simple and straight-forward. The box contained the glasses, the "dongle" adapter, driver software and an optional power adapter that is only used for older video cards. All the hardware installation consisted of was connecting the dongle to the VGA output on the PC and connecting your monitor to the dongle's VGA adapter and finally the glasses to the dongle. At this time digital connections are not supported, so I had to replace my digital cable with a standard VGA cable. I also had to swap out my LCD flat panel for a 21" CRT from storage as only CRT screens can create the proper effect required for 3D. The software end of things is where it can get tricky. The drivers for this technology will come from one of two sources depending on your video card. Customers using nVidia cards will use the built in 3D software in the "Detonator" driver package from nVidia. Other video cards will use a driver supplied by eDimensional. You might have to play around with different versions of your video drivers to get the games to work properly. For most people, the newest version of drivers for your card will work fine. My system uses an nVidia GeForce4 Ti4600 and I seemed to have the best results using the Detonator 41.09 drivers from December 2002. The nVidia 3D control panel features many controls and settings to allow you to tweak in your configuration. The glasses can run in many resolutions and refresh rates, although I recommend 1024x768 using a refresh rate of at least 85Hz or higher…this will reduce visible "flickering" and enhance your experience.

How does it work?
The concept behind the 3D glasses is actually quite simple. Your brain generates 3D images naturally by taking the images your eyes see and combining them into a single image, because your eyes are spaced out and each see things a little differently, this gives you a sense of depth or space. The glasses work by using LCD lenses over each eye that can be "shuttered" to block one eye from seeing your monitor while allowing the other one to see through. This is alternated for each eye, as a new image is drawn on the screen giving each eye a slightly different view of the game. This is synchronized with the refresh rate of your monitor to trick your brain into creating a perfect 3D image…and we do mean perfect!

How does it look?
To try and describe how your computer screen looks through these glasses is pretty much impossible, and of course there is no way to show an accurate screen shot. The best description I could give is that it feels like your monitor is like a 12 inch deep box with a glass face. All of your menus and other 2D interfaces are "stuck" on the glass and the world exists in a hologram inside the box. Of course, from time to time things "poke" out of the box, and this can even be quite scary! You will also get to see more of your games, because the two separate images being rendered to the screen are offset (simulating the spacing between your eyes) - so you get a "widescreen" view of the game. You can increase or decrease this spacing using hotkeys in the game; this is known as the "separation".

The Games
I was not able to test all MMORPG's, but here is a brief summary of the games I tested and how they looked:

• Make sure to adjust the separation to a comfortable distance for yourself and each game. This can make a big difference in performance and eye strain
• Use the highest refresh rate you can - it will decrease screen flickering and reduce eye strain
• Sit back a bit. You may find yourself leaning forward instinctively (I think this is because objects feel "deep" in the screen), but try to force yourself to sit back…it will make the experience more enjoyable
• Relax. Much like those 3D posters you see at the mall, the more you can relax your eyes, the more rich and deep the 3D effects become.
• Take it easy the first few days. Long term use can cause a slight amount of dizziness. This is really common in the first couple days because you are taking the glasses on and off and tweaking in the settings. This should go away in a short time.

After spending countless hours using the glasses on these various titles, I was totally amazed at the difference it makes in most games. At a price of $69 ($99 for wireless version) you just can't pass it up. The product is backed by a 30 day money-back guarantee and excellent 24/7 support via e-mail. I believe that any hard-core MMORPG gamer (or really any gamer for that matter) should not do without a pair of these on their desk. They will breath life back into the many titles that you have gathering dust in your game collection.