Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories
by Michael Zenke 
Jan 20th 2009 at 9:00PM
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Azeroth shall not be contained to two dimensions Yes, that's right, now you too can wear goofy glasses in front of your PC monitor and feel as if the whole world of Azeroth is jumping out from the screen and into your computer room, all thanks to NVIDIA. |
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GamerDNA and Massively offer up Death Knight data goodness Back in October, we ran a couple of articles that gave you a snapshot of the kind of person who played the various classes in World of Warcraft. Now that the Death Knight class has been out for nearly three whole months, we figure the flavor of the month kids have had their turn at bat, and the real fans of the new class are settled in. |
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The Digital Continuum: Checking in with Warhammer Online It's been a while since Warhammer Online was released and in that time we've seen a lot of crazy stuff happen. Namely, Wrath of the Lich King launched, became the fastest selling PC game of all time and rocketed World of Warcraft into an even high number of subscriptions. |
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Know Your LotRO Lore: The Race of Man If you've been following along with Know Your LotRO Lore for the last few weeks, you're probably caught up with a basic understanding of how Middle-earth was created, and the origins of most of the Free Peoples. Now it's time to get educated on the race of Man in Middle-earth. Of course this term is not gender-specific, as it can refer to both male and female humankind. |
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First Impressions: Cartoon Network's Fusion Fall Cartoon Network's MMO, FusionFall, is definitely a strong first entry into the market. With the Cartoon Network stars as the basis for their IP, and many industry names involved in the project, the hopes have been high. The story is set in a future version of Cartoon Network's own variant of Earth, where the characters are now teenagers - and a bit more anime-styled than their counterparts we know from TV. The premise is that Planet Fusion, a big nasty greenish planet-devouring ball of space-muck run by a terribad guy named Fuse, has come to snack on our beloved home. |
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
astronautcowboy3 Jan 21st 2009 1:04AM
I really love killing that pack of horses.
slex Jan 21st 2009 7:35AM
I would really like to read an article with a more in depth analysis of the Nvidia 3D in WoW. Is it worth the price? does it make easier to orient in the environment? is it more tiring for long gaming sessions?
Keyra Jan 21st 2009 11:18AM
I, too, would like to hear (read) more about this.
From personal experience, watching a long 3D movie and wearing the glasses led to some problems. After about an hour and a half, I had a headache. It may have been the way that the glasses fit (they seemed fine at first but became uncomfortable after awhile) or something else, but it just wasn't fun after the credits started to roll (migraine time - what fun).
Mark Jan 21st 2009 11:43AM
eyestrain from 3d glasses has been very common due to the nature of the way it works. Essentially for 3d to work, the glasses sync left and right with every other screen refresh, so a typical 60 hz lcd display gives a 30hz effective display and 30 hz causes headaches (this is separate from the fps rate which is how fast the game sends data to the monitor)
That is why NVidia is selling a package deal with a special 120 hz monitor, when the refresh is halved to 60hz it will work like your existing monitor and should eliminate most headaches. A package deal with the glasses and the 22" widescreen special monitor for $600 seems like its finally doable.
I've played some games with 3d glasses and its truly amazing, when you look at them its like your monitor is a hole and you look through it out onto a real landscape. The effect is amazing.
I hope we get a review from someone soon, I am seriously considering this.
Modpapa Jan 21st 2009 11:42AM
Don't bother with the "3d support" from Nvidia. They dropped support for all third party solutions a long time ago--your only options with them are either their own (horribly overpriced) glasses or a Zalman monitor, which they conveniently have a partnership with.
If you really want to play WoW in 3D, go to the Meant to Be Seen website and search the forums for a solution--they are there, they are needlessly expensive, and it's all due to Nvidia's greed. We (the 3d stereoscopic fans) have worked out our own solutions but it shouldn't be this hard. Honestly this was plug-and-play stuff until Nvidia decided to DISABLE features we'd had from the beginning.
Running Vista? No go without a lot of screwing around..
Running anything more recent than a 7800 card? No dice without 3rd party drivers (that will cost you a ton).
Running an LCD? Not gonna happen.
Right now I'm stuck using another maker's drivers on an old CRT monitor (you really need a refresh rate of at least 80 but preferably 120) with shutterglasses (the only decent solution for a good price) and the quality even then is very very bad.
Go back just two years and the quality was great on the SAME CARD FROM THE SAME MAKER!!!! They intentionally disabled features I USED to have to try to get me to buy their inferior products! That smacks or ignorance, arrogance, and flat-out greed.
The "other" big maker of videocards (hint hint) still supports 3d without forcing you to buy their own glasses or monitors; Nvidia USED to do this too but decided pissing off an entire segment of their users (anyone interested in 3d stereoscopics without spending thousands of dollars) was worth a few bucks to sell their glasses and a partnership with a very small monitor maker.
This author didn't do his homework--to say "Now you can play WOW in 3d!" is ridiculous, we've been playing WoW in 3d for 4 years--just as long as the game has been out. Why not tell me George Bush just got re-elected? Just as recent as far as news goes.
Mark Jan 21st 2009 11:47AM
I suspect the hidden message in the authors post was "now you can play wow in 3d via an officially supported method" rather than trying to come up with one yourself.
Also, the playing field seems to have changed with this announcement, a package deal for $600 that includes 22" 120 hz monitor and glasses and runs with current generation (not just 7800 serise) cards, seems better than what you were describing.
AfterbirthApple Jan 21st 2009 12:53PM
Being the UI nerd that I am, i'm really interested and wish i had the money to dish out to try this 3D NVIDIA stuff. Think about if you set up your UI to be floating pieces surrounding your vision, with your health and mana set up to become more apparent when they begin to lower. So many cool ideas running through my head with the possibilities of this.
Modpapa Jan 21st 2009 1:21PM
Actually the UI right now is pretty neat the way it is--all my addons are in the "foreground" with the gameplay behind it-had to tweak some transparency settings a bit but it works well.
The neatest one so far has been the Scrolling Combat Text if you have the "HUD centering" on--I've got the damage doing a crazy curvy thing around Necrosis (sorry I'm a lock) with the crits popping out. Just so cool!
The neatest thing in game so far has been flying around Icecrown--it's breathtaking and sometimes you actually feel like you're about to fall off the ledges when you're doing dailies!
Anyway if you're serious about trying 3d I suggest the Meant to Be Seen website, google it and read up beforehand and you'll really fall in love with 3d.
The Nvidia setup DOES look great and the Zalman monitors they're partnered with are excellent quality,I'm just bitter about the way they screwed with something so fun and cheap.
You could always use the "other guys" cards who DO support full 3d. Word to the wise--anyone that tells you an LCD can get the job done without a TON of modifications is just babbling to you (Zalman being the exception).
Another option is to use a DLP TV--I have a 57 inch Mitsubishi that does great on 3d, different setup but seeing WoW in 3d on a 57 inch screen is just breathtaking (too bad my wife doesn't let me keep it set up)!
Modpapa Jan 21st 2009 1:10PM
I understand what you're getting at, but the sad truth is we already HAD an officially sanctioned way of playing WoW in 3d---FROM NVIDIA!
My convoluted "solution" never would have happened if they didn't purposely decide to screw with the way things have been done for at least the past 7-8 years of their own product/driver line!
Until the newest drivers came out full 3d stereoscopic gameplay was already useable by anyone that had bought an Nvidia card off the shelf. WoW has been supported from the beginning. Officially. Even the very newest drivers for the latest cards have the code already written into them--but disabled. That reeks.
{BAD ANALOGY ALERT} If I sold you a car that had all the options then took away those options to "improve" the product would you be a little angry? I've been buying Nvidia cards for years and wasn't informed I would be losing the ability to do 3d with an "upgrade". It's like buying a new Cadillac that doesn't have windshield wipers--no one tells you, you just expect that since every Caddy before it had them you assumed this one would also.
With every card I've had before, I took a pair of shutterglasses, hooked them up to my card, enabled the 3d settings, and was playing in a matter of a few minutes. Nothing has changed with anything except they decided to disable their own drivers!
It's not a matter of "oh look they added something" it's more like "we replaced your old, effective, and economical setup with a super expensive version of our own".
The funny (or sick) part is that even THE NEW DRIVERS have support for all solutions already written into their code--except they're disabled! The technology behind shutterglasses is super easy if you have access to the code (but only to a coder and only if you could get them to open up the source for license). No way they'd do that when they're disabling features they already had perfected, right?
It's pretty twisted that we're getting forced into paying 600 dollars for a setup that I can match with a 20 dollar pair of shutterglasses and any decent CRT monitor (i.e. a refresh rate of 120).
You can buy a pair of shutters from X3D for ten dollars RIGHT NOW. A decent CRT monitor could be found for a maximum of 40 dollars (I'm being very generous I got one at Goodwill for ten). If they didn't change the way they handled 3d that would be your entire setup right there. Hook up the shutters, enable the driver, enjoy WoW in 3d. Seriously it was that simple before.
What is more disturbing is apparently the author thinks he's providing "news" when all he's doing is writing ad copy. I hope he got paid well (Or Massively did), because this reads exactly like Nvidia's sales pitch on their website.
Crescento Jan 21st 2009 3:04PM
Where is that pack of horses? never seen it before.