3D Vision Blog » stereo 3d gaming

Using GeForce GTX 580 for 720p and 1080p Stereo 3D Gaming

Bloody — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:17:55 +0000

It has been over a month already since the official introduction of the GeFocre GTX 680 video card and the demand is still quite high, so that these models are still out of stock in most places and you can usually find them in places that sell them for more than the recommended end user price. It would be strange is Nvidia is still not able to provide enough supply a month after the initial launch, so I’m going to be benchmarking the GeForce GTX 580 here. The idea is to find how well the GTX 580 card performs in stereo 3D mode with the more recent games and if it really is already outdated or you can wait a few more months for better availability and pricing of the GTX 680, or maybe even skip the GTX 680 and go directly to GTX 685/690 or why not even 7xx…

I’ve started doing the following tests with the idea to see how well is the GTX 580 handling 720p resolution with 4xAA (Anti-Aliasing) in order to see if the card is still powerful enough for people using 3D-capable projectors or 3D HDTVs for gaming in stereoscopic 3D mode. You know that the 3D-capable TV sets and 3D-capable projectors limit you to 720p resolution with high-enough (50/60Hz) refresh rate for gaming in stereo 3D mode, unlike 3D monitors, most of which do support 1080p 3D mode with 60 fps. And in the process I’ve decided to also compare with 1080p mode using no AA as well as to give a stereoscopic 3D rating to the games I test with. And the list of games grew to 20 popular and more demanding game titles released roughly in the last 6-8 months, regardless of them being 3D ready or not. So in the end I’ve managed to do a few things, do some performance comparison using a single GTX 580 card in 720p and 1080p 3D mode and check the situation of the 3D support for some of the popular games released recently.

In the table above you can see the results from my testing that took quite a while more than I initially have planned, and I do plan to extend it even further in the next few weeks of time. Note that the fps listed in the table are the ones achieved in stereo 3D mode with 60 fps being the maximum (120 frames per second in total, 60 for each eye to get the 3D effect). The benchmarking at 1080p 3D mode is with the games running at high detail settings with no AA, unless the game does not allow you to completely turn it off. For 720p 3D mode the games were running again in high details, but with 4xAA applied in order to compensate for the more easily visible jagged edges that the lower resolution produces. Have in mind that some games had a frame caps and others needed to have the AA forced trough the Nvidia control panel in order for them to work, so have in mind this when you see the lower framerates with some games. The 3D Rating is something that I quickly devised based on my personal requirements for a good stereoscopic 3D experience, the things that I expect to see in a game, with the maximum rating being 10 points and the minimum 1. A game with a rating of 1 would be actually unplayable in stereoscopic 3D mode, a rating of 5 is on the edge of ensuring decent playability in stereo 3D mode with some tweaking of the settings in the game and a rating of 10 would mean perfect stereoscopic 3D experience. As you can see there are no tens, but there is a game with a rating of 1 and quite a few with 5 or less, but there are also a lot with higher ratings as well, meaning that things are not so bad when talking about stereoscopic 3D compatibility.

Have in mind that all the benchmarking has been done using the games with no tweaks, mods or fixes of any kind in order to give an idea about what experience the user can get out of the box when he gets a game and tries to play it in stereoscopic 3D mode. There are some annoying things and limitations that could easily be overridden like the 30 fps frame cap limits in Alice Madness Returns or L.A. Noire, or get a better experience in stereoscopic 3D mode using user mods like the ones available for Skyrim or Mass Effect 3 that can help in getting much better experience. Not to mention different performance tweaks and optimizations that can help you get better looking graphics, more details or even higher fps without sacrificing visual quality. But as I’ve said, the idea was to get an adequate overview of the situation with out of the box game compatibility and performance in stereoscopic 3D mode and I think I’ve managed to do it quite decently.

And now for a bit of statistics. Out of 20 games that I’ve tested with 10 are with rating of 8 or 9 out of 10, meaning that they are looking very good in stereoscopic 3D mode and that is half of the titles that I’ve used and I did not specifically go for games that are being optimized for 3D, but instead for games that were released roughly in the last 6-8, are more popular and generally more demanding in terms of performance. There are some games that are on the edge with a rating of 5-6, but for some of them such as Mass Effect 3 using some user made modifications you can get much better stereoscopic 3D experience. There are also some games with very low rating that are practically unplayable in stereo 3D mode due to some serious issues and I’m actually quite disappointed, because sports simulators such as NBA or FIFA could benefit a lot from proper stereoscopic 3D support and that also goes for other sports games as well. Other games like Alan Wake for example started quite bad in terms of stereoscopic 3D support (although the developer of that particular one was claiming good S3D support), but they have been improving the situation a bit by bit with updates, so in a few more updates the game might actually movie among the titles with twice as high 3D rating than the one it currently has. Some other games have already walked this way, for example Dirt 3 and Hard Reset weren’t working very well in stereo 3D mode at first, when they were released, but with updates the experience in S3D mode that they now provide has been significantly improved.

And now back to the GTX 580, definitely still more than capable for stereoscopic 3D gaming and will be for quite a while actually. Have in mind that the results in the table above have been made on a system running Intel Core i5 2500K CPU on an Asus P67 motherboard and neither the processor, not the video card have been overclocked for the testing – they were running on stock speeds. So you can get even higher framerates after overclocking your hardware and if you already have a second GTX 580 in SLI, then unless you are using 3D Vision Surround setup, there is even less reason to upgrade at the moment. However if you are still using a GTX 480 or a slower card form the 400 or 500 series, then upgrading to GTX 680 or the upcoming slightly slower models might be a good idea, especially considering the fact that the latest GeForce 600 series GPUs are coming with some new useful features, along with the improved performance and the reduced power consumption.

Stereo 3D Not a Big Focus at the Game Developers Conference 2012

Bloody — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:17:03 +0000

This year’s Game Developers Conference 2012 currently held in San Francisco (USA) is apparently not focusing that much on stereoscopic 3D technology as the stereo 3D gamers might expect. The GDC is an annual event where game developers and other companies involved in the game industry meet to share useful information, show and discuss the future trends, talk about the positive and negative experience they’ve had etc. The event consists of multiple lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics lead by leading industry experts as well as a showcase for the latest in gaming technology of course. Looking over at the dedicated information pages about the GDC 2012 presence of AMD and Nvidia it seems that both companies are not focusing much on stereo 3D technology. For AMD the focus is mostly about their latest generation of GPUs, the new Radeon HD 7000 series and for Nvidia the focus this year seems to be mobile gaming and Tegra 3. And looking over at the full GDC 2012 schedule it seems that Sony is going to be talking the most about stereoscopic 3D technology in games this year, so if you are interested you might want to check out their sessions “Stereoscopic Rendering and Design for Consoles” and “Stereography: The Art of 3D”.

- For more information about the Game Developers Conference 2012…

Toshiba Qosmio F750 and F755 3D Laptops Get S3D Gaming Support

Bloody — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:12:14 +0000

Toshiba has released a BIOS update for their Qosmio F750 (EU, Asia) and F755 (US) 3D-capable autostereoscopic (glasses free) laptops that adds support for gaming in stereo 3D mode, a feature that was not available initially at the release of the products. Up until recently you could officially only play 3D movies on these laptops, or use a workaround for getting stereo 3D support for other things thanks to the Screen Activator software. But after updating the BIOS of your Toshiba Qosmio F750 or F755 laptop to version 2.00 you should also be able to take advantage of Nvidia’s 3D drivers to get the full set of stereoscopic 3D features.

You need to download and install the following updates in the order listed:
- Nidia Display Driver version 8.17.12.9039 (290.39)
- Super-D IC Driver version 1.0.1613.809
- Toshiba Blu-ray Disc Player version 1.0.1.299
- BIOS version 2.00: for the F750 or for the F755 model

Have in mind that you need to have the resolution set to 1920×1080 in order for the stereo 3D mode to work, although the actual resolution in 3D mode is lower. You need to enable the Nvidia stereo 3D support form the “NVIDIA Control Panel” under the “Set up stereoscopic 3D” pane by clicking on the “Enable stereoscopic 3D” check box. Have in mind that some games might not work in stereo 3D mode and others may not work correctly to ensure a problem free experience. Also note that due to the not so powerful video cards used in the Toshiba Qosmio F750 and F755 3D laptops some games may not have high enough fps for comfortable usage, and even lowering the detail levels may not help in making them playable. Still being able to play games in stereoscopic 3D mode on these autosterescopic 3D laptops is nice to have as a feature finally, even though they are not targeted at gamers. If you have already updated yours and tried the new feature you are welcome to share your feedback…

The Game Gatling Gears Looks Great in Stereo 3D Mode with 3D Vision

Bloody — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:24:44 +0000

While checking out some of the latest games I’ve found out about an interesting top-down shooter that has turned out to be a real gem for playing in stereoscopic 3D mode with 3D Vision. The game I’m talking about is called Gatling Gears, developed by Vanguard Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, and besides working well in stereo 3D mode it is also fun to play if you like this type of games. It renders almost flawlessly in stereoscopic 3D mode right out of the box, although there is no official 3D Vision profile for the game available yet, all you need to do is do some convergence adjustment and then you can play with very high depth levels for a really nice experience. Everything renders well in stereoscopic 3D mode, even the in-game crosshair is rendered in 3D, although the cursor in the game menu is in 2D that is only present at the menu, so it shouldn’t bother you. The only thing that is rendered in 2D are some HUD elements, but these are not a problem considering that the game needs to be optimized for more depth and just some objects sticking out for best experience (but you can play with convergence to make it suit your preferences best). The game is a fine example what you can achieve by making things properly, even though you haven’t planned the game specifically for stereo 3D gaming it turns out to be almost perfect. So I would recommend you to definitely try Gatling Gears in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision.

- Visit the official Gatling Gears website for more information about the game…

Electronic Arts Moving Away From Stereo 3D Games Due to Small Profit

Bloody — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:43:39 +0000

EA CEO John Riccitiello has announced that Electronic Arts is planing to move away from stereo 3D games and go more towards social and online gaming. The reason he states in front of the company’s stockholders is that there are poor returns from these games as compared to other titles.

“We see really high returns in these markets and very poor returns focusing on 3D, so we are allocating our resources toward new innovations.”

“Frankly we have not seen a big uptake for 3D gaming. We have not seen a big uptake in 3D TVs in the home, at least not yet. We are not here trying to drive a market. We are here to react to what consumers are looking for.”

But don’t forget that in order to attract gamers you not only need to make a hit title game, but also ensure a proper stereoscopic 3D support, so that instead of gamers complaining all the time from very basic issues in stereo 3D mode they will be happy right from the start and spread the work to other fellow stereo 3D gamers about the game. This however is still a problem not only fro EA, but for most other game makers that want to implement stereoscopic 3D support and instead of attracting the stereo 3D gamers they are driving them away. Remember the fiasco that EA has with the hit title “Battlefield: Bad Company 2″ it was constantly being fixed in terms of stereo 3D support, but the new patches broke other things that worked properly with the older ones.

A more recent example with a hit game title that should’ve been 3D-ready right from the start, from another developer, is the game “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings”. Instead of becoming a hit stereo 3D title it is getting a lot of bad feedback from gamers due to various issues in stereo 3D mode and patches for the game that are supposed to be fixing things are not doing what they should.

With such level of efforts (clearly not enough) from game developers to provide proper stereo 3D support and moving the focus from S3D PC gamers to the still not that much console 3D gamers I’m wondering what were game developers expecting. Probably the same thing that Hollywood wanted to do with 3D movie ticket sales, but you know, you cannot push higher sales of more expensive tickets for the 3D version of the movies and provide the viewers with crappy 2D to 3D conversion or bad quality movies and expect that to last forever. The entertainment industry should learn from their mistakes, but clearly they are not doing that and in the process they are hurting the 3D industry. Somebody has to drive the stereo 3D gaming market with a good example and not necessarily with the idea to make high profit in short time, but clearly this is not EA as apparently this has never been their intention.

Stereo 3D gamers are looking for quality games that work as they should in stereoscopic 3D mode and not for games that have a 3D logo and some kind of crappy stereo 3D support, because some game developer decided to profit a bit extra by advertising a game 3D-ready when it clearly is not. If a game developer does not understand this simple truth and does not follow what the customers actually demand in terms of stereo 3D support, then he has no right to complain from poor returns… it is as simple as that.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Console To Officially Support Stereo 3D Gaming?

Bloody — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:55:50 +0000

With the E3 Expo right around the corner there are rumors starting to appear that Microsoft is going to introduce native stereoscopic 3D support for their Xbox 360 game console. According to the unofficial information Xbox 360 may get a firmware update that will introduce HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic 3D support for native 720p gaming. But unlike all owners of PlayStation 3 consoles, a firmware update for the Xbox 360 will not introduce S3D support for all consoles, due to the fact that the first Xbox 360 consoles did not feature HDMI video output. This may open up the doors to much wider stereoscopic 3D adoption for the Xbox 360 console as currently there are just a few titles that support stereo 3D output and all these achieve it through a native engine supporting different output modes. Getting S3D support on a console level will make it easier for game developers to add that feature, but don’t forget that it is only a rumor for for now…

The 1080p 3D-capable Projectors and Gaming in Stereo 3D Mode

Bloody — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:16:29 +0000

There are a lot of people that expect this year to finally see 1080p 3D-capable projectors on the market with more affordable prices, thinking about upgrading their current 720p 3D projectors or directly going for such a solution with gaming in stereo 3D mode as one of the main things to do on a big screen. Currently one of the most affordable 1080p 3D projector is Sharp XV-Z17000 available for about 3-4K USD, but even this is considered high for more mainstream users not looking to build a home movie theater, but instead planning to use the projector for gaming. Especially considering that there are some mainstream 3D-capable 720p projectors such as the Acer H5360 available for just about $600 USD, so paying 2-3 times that price for a projector supporting 3D and 1080p resolutions sounds reasonable, but more not so much.

Leaving the still higher price for 3D support and 1080p resolution as features available together in a projector, there are some other important things that you should consider if you are looking to buy an 3D Full HD projector for gaming. Having an industry standard such as HDMI 1.4 is good for a lot of things, but can also bring some issues because of some limitations it implies on hardware that is using it. And you can expect pretty much any 3D-capable 1080p projector for consumers that is expected this year to be based on that particular standard. For movie lovers that should not be a problem as the HDMi 1.4 standard supports high enough bandwidth to push 1080p at 24Hz in 3D mode, but for gaming in stereo 3D mode this is simply not enough and you should go back to 720p resolution where you can get 50 or 60Hz per eye in 3D mode. So what is the point in going for a 1080p 3D projector using HDMI 1.4 if you plan to use it for gaming – absolutely no point in doing that. You better stay with a much more affordable 720p model if you have one or go for such 3D projector for playing games in stereo 3D mode, and you can of course play 3D movies in 1080p resolution on it without very significant visual quality “loss”.

In 720p resolution you would have to use some Anti-Aliasing to smooth the jagged edges in games, something like 4xAA should be quite close to what you get at 1080p resolution without AA in terms of edge smoothness, although there would be still some difference in the level of details you get. But in general playing at lower resolution may also help you get by in stereo 3D mode even with not a top-end video card with a decent framerate as compared to playing with the same hardware on 1080p display for example. And having a bigger projected screen helps a lot for the immersion as compared to a much smaller 3D monitor for example that may have higher resolution, not to mention the fact that 3D DLP technology is practically crosstalk/ghosting free in 3D mode.

Having a 3D-capable projector using HDMI 1.4 has the advantage that it should be compatible with much wider range of hardware, not only PC (Nvidia’s 3D Vision and AMD’ HD3D technology), but also standalone consumer electronic devices with support for 3D such as the PlayStation 3 console, or a Blu-ray 3D player. The disadvantage when using HDMI 1.4 is that it only supports 720p 50/60Hz 3D mode and 1080p 24Hz 3D mode, the rest is only in 2D mode and you cannot use the projector at 120Hz in 2D mode like you can do with projectors using HDMI 1.3 or VGA interface for example (this can vary greatly on the specific projector).

So if you are waiting for an affordable 1080p 3D-capable projector to become available in order for you to use it for gaming in stereo 3D mode and not for 3D movies, then you should probably reconsider your decision…

More on the Upgrade to Sandy Bridge and Overclocking for S3D Gaming

Bloody — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:11:56 +0000

A few days ago I’ve written that my second GeForce GTX 580 video card has died, but now thanks to support from Nvidia I got the issue resolved and a replacement card, so I’m back with a working SLI setup and thus I was able to finish testing with the new Sandy Bridge platform. In the previous article Intel Sandy Bridge Plus SLI for Stereo 3D Gaming with 3D Vision I’ve compared the older Asus Sabertooth P55 motherboard with an Intel Core i5 750 processor overclocked at 4GHz along with the two GTX 580s in SLI to the newer Asus Sabertooth P67 (Sandy Bridge) motherboard with Intel Core i5 2500K running at 5 GHz. In the previous tests however the focus was the CPU and motherboard and what benefits are there in terms of performance increase for gaming in 2D (plain 3D) as well as in stereo 3D mode. But I’ve went further by overclocking the two GTX 580 video cards and repeated the tests to measure the additional performance increase you can get besides just overclocking the processor and changing the platform…

The two GeForce GTX 580 video cards in SLI were with GPUs overclocked from 772 MHz to 950 MHz or that is 170 MHz increase of the default frequencies for both. And the working frequency of the memory was overclocked from the default 4008 MHz to 4850 MHz which is a bit pushing it, but is easily achievable when using water cooling, because operating temperatures remain quite low even under high load for long time. Of course the system is already with an overclocked Intel Core i5 2500K processor running at 5GHz and in the tables below you can see a comparison between the results achieved with the processor at default and at 5 GHz with the video cards not overclocked and with 5GHz with the VGAs also overclocked.

Starting with popular synthetic benchmark 3DMark 2006, the performance increase here is quite small after overclocking the GPUs, but that is to be expected as this test is more CPU dependent than GPU limited. The newer 3DMark 11 that is heavily relying on the video card is showing much better performance increase as expected…

After overclocking the video cards in the game tests in 2D mode (plain 3D) the increase is not that significant, but here we already have high enough average framerate with about 100 fps for the more demanding games and even more with not so heavy titles.

Moving to the game benchmark in stereo 3D mode, after overclocking the two video cards and with the processor at 5GHz almost all games are hitting average framerate of 60 fps per eye, except for Just Cause 2 and Metro 2033. These two titles that are a bit more demanding when played with high detail settings do show much higher performance increase after overclocking the GPUs as compared to overclocking the CPU only. But still with them you may need to sacrifice a bit of extra details or effects to get an average fps of about 60 frames per eye in stereo 3D mode, not that with an average of 40 fps per eye these games are unplayable, on the contrary, but yo would expect a bit more with such a high-end system that is also decently overclocked to get the maximum performance out of it for stereoscopic 3D gaming in Full HD resolution with maxed out detail levels and even some AA enabled in games to smooth out the edges…

Still I can say that I’m pretty happy form the additional performance increase after the upgrade to the new Sandy Bridge platform, and now the new B3 revision of the Sandy Bridge chipsets are becoming available, so you can safely do the upgrade as well. The new K-series i5 and i7 processors offer better overclockability than the previous generation, but still when talking about gaming, you may be able to get better performance increase with a higher-end video card, or by adding a second video card in SLI, than by just pushing the CPU frequency or increasing the number of cores. Because the truth is that still most of the latest games still cannot yet take advantage of more than one CPU core, but they can fully utilize the additional video performance that a more powerful video card can offer. So if you are just gaming in stereo 3D mode, then it may be more worth to upgrade your GPU than to go for a Sandy Bridge upgrade, but if you already have a high-end GPU or even more than one, then upgrading the processor and the motherboard can still be a good choice. And although most games can’t fully utilize the total performance that a new multi-core processor can offer, there are a lot of applications that can do that and you are probably using quite a few of these as well, for example software for video editing and conversion.

What do Gamers Want When Playing Games in Stereoscopic 3D Mode

Bloody — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:57:31 +0000

According to the results from the U-Decide 2011 survey conducted by the S-3D Gaming Alliance almost all gamers do want to get more and more depth when they play their favorite games in stereo 3D mode. As you can see from the chart above summarizing the results from the specific question about what gamers would want to get in an FPS games when playing in stereo 3D mode, over 90% of the respondents want a lot of depth. And almost 40 percent of them want to also get a little pop-out with almost another forty percent what want a lot of pop-out. Getting a lot of pop-out in a shooter, especially if it is a first-person FPS game, is not easily achievable, because of the position of the gun that usually looks best if at screen depth, but that does not stop gamers from wanting more pop-out. Of course gamers do not want to get a lot of depth and some or also a lot of pop-out effects in stereo 3D mode only in FPS games, but in pretty much any game, unlike in 3D movies where you usually get just a bit of pop-out if any at all and moderate depth. This comes to show that the individual needs and requirement by gamers are a far from what the movie makers think should be used in 3D movies in order to be liked by the general audience and also not to make the people new to 3D feel uncomfortable…

Trying the Fujitsu Air Command Plus Air Mouse for Stereo 3D Gaming

Bloody — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:19:15 +0000

The concept of light guns for games is something that some of you might remember from playing a long time ago on a console, but still refer as to a fun experience. However this concept has long been gone, due to technological changes and no new suitable games, although there were some tries to revive it. The modern way of doing things is with accelerometers and gyros in the form of so called “air mouse” products that are available by multiple companies. However these usually are either targeted at the business for presentations or for home/multimedia use like for playing back multimedia on your PC while sitting comfortable in your couch. I’ve been working on an idea of mine about a DIY device like an air mouse turned into a more decent gaming type controller for use in stereo 3D as well, but that will take me some more time, and meanwhile a few days ago I’ve found out about Fujitsu’s Air Command Plus. This is an air mouse that has been made especially for gamers, so I took one of these to try out and see how well it will work in different types of games and in stereo 3D mode as well and most of all will it be fun and easy to use…

With light guns we had games that are a bit more static, like for example you get something displayed on the screen with a static scene and moving targets that you need to shoot at. The reason for that was due to the fact that it is hard to operate a controller to move while aiming and shooting at something on the screen with the light gun, but newer games are much more dynamic and this makes it hard to go apply the light gun concept. With light guns you are taking aim through the gun’s iron sights, but with a new shooter you need to move around a big open spaces, interact with different objects and this while shooting at enemies. This calls for a more flexible solution and since you are getting your crosshair on the monitor, you no longer need to take aim with an actual gun. This certainly is not that realistic, or at least not like you should do it in real life, but makes it easier to aim and shoot and in regards with stereo 3D you can actually play without having to close one of your eyes to take aim. The additional flexibility is offered by full freedom of movement for which a multiple sensors are needed to track your hand’s movement and translate it to actual cursor or character movements and/or actions. So a gun type of controller would be suitable for FPS shooters, but what about racing or sport games or if you just want to you the controller as an air mouse in some software in Windows? That is why Fujitsu have thought about making the controller flexible, meaning that you can change its shape depending on what you are using it for. There are two basic positions – straight, similar to that of a Wii remote and a gun type one, however there are multiple modes associated with these two positions of the controller. Like for example having it in straight position you would usually use it as an air mouse in Windows or as a sports controller, again much like you do with Nintendo’s Wii remote. But in gun mode, if you hold it like a gun you can use it as such in FPS shooters, but if you rotate it a bit it becomes a wheel replacement for racing games, and if you tilt it forward it becomes a controller for air simulators.

The software that Fujitsu uses for configuration and control of their Air Command Plus remote uses profiles and it comes with a few of them built in – for some popular games and for some not so popular, but you can also make up your own configurations for different games. You can choose the mode the controller will be used in and map the keys you have on the controller respectively for different functions. Now, as I’ve mentioned the Air Command Plus tracks your hand movement and can translate them into game commands, but aside from that it also has multiple buttons that can be customized for other functions. There is a the all important “trigger” (first mouse key) and another key on top that does what the right mouse button does, these two are very handy and easy to sue, especially in gun mode, and a few more buttons. There is also a directional pad on top that works for movement for example, simulating WASD or the arrow keys, definitely a good idea, but not very handy for some games like shooters for example. The reason for that is that it is quite hard to use the direction controller for movement in a game while at the same time you move your hand to aim and shoot at something, and because of that you usually have to use the keyboard with your other free hand. For other types of games the situation is different as the movement is mapped to the position of the controller like in racing games, so that is not much of a drawback anyway, but a second Wii nunchuk like controller for the movement part would’ve been a great addition for FPS games for example.

With the Air Command Plus controller you get some free sports games that are quite Wii-like and fun to play with the controller, almost like if you played them on Wii. You also get a software that can be used to translate gestures with the air mouse into commands for Windows 7… kind of multi-touch emulation through the remote which may also be interesting for some of you. Of course you get the controller itself, which is wireless and uses two AA batteries for power and a USB stick that serves as a controller to get the commands from the air mouse to the PC wirelessly using a 2.4GHz frequency. According to Fujitsu the max communication range is 10 meters, a distance that would require you to use a big projection screen and that kind of sounds like a very fun idea to try. I’ve had no trouble with the sensitivity of up to 4-5 meters away from the PC and I haven’t tried with more as there was no point going further from the projected screen. When connected to a PC the controller acts more like a mouse, but I’ve seen some games detect it as a joystick/joypad device, so you should have that in mind.

And now back to the actual usability of the device. I’m starting with shooters, where I had to resort to my keyboard for movement and use the Air Command Plus just for aiming and shooting. And it did quite well with that task, provided that I did not have to move and rotate too much in the game, but mostly move straight and aim with not too much movement of the crosshair on the left and right. The problem comes if you have to rotate more by moving the crosshair, usually you do that with a mouse by lifting it and placing it at another position and then continuing to move it to rotate. This action however is hard to be replicated when you are holding a controller that reacts and moves with the movement of your wrist or your whole arm (depending on personal preferences). There is of course a solution that is similar to lifting your mouse and that is to press and hold a special key at the “pistol’s” handle, just below the trigger, marked as button A and then change the Air Command Pro’s position without this actually affecting the cursor position. The after that you release the button and continue to move the crosshair withing the game with your hand’s movement, it works well, but it takes some time to get used to that. So there are some specifics, it is a different and maybe a more natural way of movement, but it does not follow the way things happen in the real world when you are holding a gun, aiming it and shooting. But precisely as you don’t need to aim through the “gun controller”, you don’t actually need to see it, just follow the on-screen crosshair you can use the controller without any issues to play FPS games in stereo 3D mode as well. I should however let you know that it is more tiring as compared to using a mouse, so you will have to take breaks more often to let your hand get some rest. And as for the precision when aiming, if your hand is not shaking after drinking too much coffee or something else, then you should not have trouble getting used to playing shooters like that. Here the gyro helps you with keeping steady the mouse pointer at a fixed position when you are holding your arm steady to aim at something.

As for using the controller for racing and sports games, even air simulators… there the situation is much easier as most of your controls are translated just to the movement of the controller. Aside from sports games where you will probably (not in all of course) just swing or move the controller, holding it with a single hand, with racing and air simulators you will be holding it with both arms, so it is not as tiring. It of course takes some time to get a hand of things, don’t just expect to start NFS and be a driving pro with this controller as opposed to the keyboard. You may also need to play a bit with the sensitivity in some games of the reaction is too slow as compared to the amount of movement you are doing with the controller. What can be a bit more of a challenge and not suitable for gaming with this controller are some third person action games, or fighters or any not so traditional genres of games where a mouse would be much easier and comfortable to be used. The good thing is that there is no need for you to do something special, other than taking some time to adjust and learn to use this new method of control, it can be quite fun once you get the hang of it. And it will work equally well on both non-stereoscopic 3D games as well as when playing games in stereo 3D mode, so no worries about that. It is fun, but don’t expect that using this controller will make things out just the same like in the real world, it offers something different as a control method, but not necessarily a more realistic one, it is more like a more fun one. And I should tell you that if it gets you out from your chair or couch to play a game on a big TV or a projector, no matter if 2D or 3D, then it is really worth it ;)

- You can find more about the Fujitsu Air Command Plus mouse on the official website…

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