3D seems to be making a reemergence lately -- there was a 3D commercial on the Super Bowl last week, I'm going to see Coraline in 3D this weekend (Neil Gaiman and stop motion for the win), and Nvidia's 3D Vision cards have recently been integrated with World of Warcraft. But not so fast there: apparently while the system does make WoW stereoscopic (sends a different picture to each eye), and while it does work for some media (apparently watching 3D HD content with the system "feels like your monitor is a window"), analyst Rob Enderle over at TG Daily says WoW in 3D isn't all that amazing.

Let's not forget, of course, that this is a game going on four years old, and while it has a terrific art style, and has recieved multiple graphic updates since then, we're still dealing with old technology in terms of a graphic engine. So Enderle says that the 3D really makes you realize that there are no real physics in the game -- "the objects," he says, "look like flat cutouts fanned out in a 3D field." The physical limitations are there, too -- you need a special monitor, apparently, and it's only 22" big, which might seem fine for most, but anyone who works all day on a computer (like yours truly), is used to a little bigger screen.

Not to mention that, as he says, any technology that requires you to wear glasses isn't quite as cool as it could be yet. But 3D is obviously making progress, and the more popular it gets, the easier it'll be to make and experience. Maybe someday we'll all see Azeroth as a 3D world around us.

Tags: 3d-field, 3d-technology, blizzard, coraline, graphics, nvidia, physics, rob-enderle, super-bowl, video, vision, wow-3d

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Hardware