You may not even remember this technology and you have surely never tried it. It’s normal, it was an extremely expensive technology, which required special glasses and a specific gaming screen. Only the glasses and the screen cost around 800 dollars, to which you had to add a computer to move it. Even if it may not seem like much, today the monitor would cost more than 1000 dollars and the glasses 300 dollars, quietly.
What is NVIDIA 3D Vision?
We are talking about a technology similar to 3D cinema, but carried away into the world of video games. NVIDIA 3D Vision technology was released in 2008, which sought to bring the immersive effect of 3D to the world of video games. This technology required special glasses developed by NVIDIA and monitors compatible with certain features.
The first thing that was needed to use the 3D Vision glasses was a monitor con 1080p resolution and an 120Hz refresh rate. Although today these things are as common as going out to buy bread, back then it was something new. We must bear in mind that this technology has been compatible with CRT monitor (the ones with butts) as long as they had a 1024×768 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It was also compatible with some projects.
In addition to the monitor, a Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 processor or better. Come on, with a dual core processor you have enough for this technology. Also required a total of 2 GB DDR2.
One of the most problematic points was the graphics card, as it required some power. At a minimum, NVIDIA recommended a GTX 260 or higher. It wasn’t a particularly high requirement, but if you wanted good performance, you really had to go to a GTX 280.
Lack of interest from manufacturers, developers and users
NVIDIA 3D Vision had all the votes to be a dismal failure, as it was. Only the glasses with their necessary accessories cost around 200 dollars. This made it a really uninteresting product on its own.
But, in addition, you needed a special monitor that supported said technology. They came to throw only 7 monitors supported and they cost 500 dollars or more, which was a lot of money.
Yes, there were quite a few compatible games, up to 38 have been released with compatibility. They weren’t bad games, as we had, between them, The Witcher 2, Mafia 2, Just Cause 2, Civilization V, various Battlefields, and the first three Batman Arkham games.
I remember having has tried this technology with resident evil 5, something that was quite interesting, but nothing else. It was at a Lan Party, so maybe the experience wasn’t as good as it should have been, but anyway, It also wasn’t a “how the game changes” feel. It was just flashy and different, you had more depth, even though there was no reason to spend on it.
Most of the supported games were released between 2010 and 2012. After 2012, no supported games were released because it was more expensive to develop this technology than the number of users who would use it.
Despite everything, NVIDIA continued to offer Support by drivers to this technology until April 11, 2019. As of this date, support for NVIDIA 3D Vision has been completely removed.
If I wanted to make you some, as a souvenir, they are currently sold at Wallapop for around 30 dollars.
