We’ve shown NVIDIA’s shutter glasses to you during NVISION, but this time, the product is here. The tech works well and games like Age of Empire and World of Warcraft are “jumping out” of the display but the cool thing is in the business model.
For those not familiar with the stereo glasses market, you should know that many companies charge not only for the glasses, but also for the stereo driver for games, on a “per-game” basis (around $8-$10). Yes, you heard me, it’s insane! With NVIDIA, you get the glasses for $199 and you can download a driver that works with hundreds of games, and all the following updates are free. I think that the media has largely passed on this fact, which is really the meat of this product – from the buyer’s perspective.
This will only work with recent TVs, so check the NVIDIA website to see what’s compatible. In terms of quality, this is pretty much top of the line, for a stereo consumer product, but don’t expect miracles either, if you have tested stereo before, it’s not all that different. If you have not, you should at least try.
Why is NVIDIA doing this? Stereo is cool indeed but it’s also a big business opportunity. Stereo imaging requires rendering twice the number of pixels (left/right eye) and more work for the graphics processor is good for NVIDIA. Upcoming 3D imaging technologies (without glasses) might require rendering the scene 8 times, so this is definitely not the end of it. Don’t think that NVIDIA’s plan is to make money on accessories like this – it’s a tool to accelerate the needs for graphics computing. (product homepage)
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