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Review: E-D Glasses For the past two months, JediKnightII.net has been running advertisements for a pair of 3D glasses that claim “you won’t believe your eyes.” In the past, I’ve witnessed attempts from companies to bring 3D perception to the computer screen. Please, if it can’t be done properly: it should not be done at all. Other gamers in the community share the same concerns. Since our staff e-mail box receives several e-mails a week inquiring about the performance of E-D Glasses, we decided it was time for a little review to answer once and for all, do these things really work? How E-D Works: According to eDimensional Founded in 2000, eDimensional is based in Alexandria, Virginia. Aside from their flagship product, E-D glasses, they produce several other products that enhance game play. Here’s a brief description on how the company explains the E-D System: “The way humans perceive 3 dimensions and depth in images is through the use of both eyes, each of which sees a slightly offset view of a scene. The two slightly different views are fused by our brain in a complex way that creates our perception of depth.Installation The E-D Glasses where shipped via FedEx. When I first received the package, I opened the box to see what was included. The glasses, several connections, and two compact discs made up the contents. I decided to plug everything and give it a whirl. Since I had planned to do a review for the site, I figured I should actually read the directions as opposed to rushing the install like I would normally do. After following the nine simple hardware instructions, I booted up my computer and began the software setup.  The software
installation consists of
setting up your video drivers to support stereo mode. This is what gives the 3D effect on
your computer, but more on that later. Once you have obtained the proper driver for your
system from
either of the two CDs provided or from the Internet, there are four simple steps to complete
in order to turn on stereo mode. The software setup ends with a rundown of the programmable
Hotkeys that
can quickly modify how the monitor is working. You can control everything from toggling
stereo mode on and off (Ctrl+T) to changing the screen separation (Ctrl+S.) Performance After the glasses were setup, I had to select which game I wanted to play first. Jedi Knight II had the honors. Out of anticipation, I chose the setup for Quake 3 off of the long list of drivers since I missed JKII on the first pass and I was ready to play. The screen gave Quake 3 an excellent 3D rating, so I loaded up JKII and put my glasses on. The glasses are pretty light, so after a few minutes you will forget them. If your glasses are not long enough, you can add some provided extensions. The Jedi Knight II menu came up, it looked quite odd. The 3D effects seemed all wrong, and it was much harder to read the screen. I hit CTRL+T to stop the stereo effect, and I continued loading a game. My thoughts at this point were that I really hoped the game didn’t look anything like the menu. Once I Jan was at my side, we approached some storm troopers and reactivated stereo mode. Boom, everything suddenly took shape! The storm troopers must have picked up my sent when I was looking around the level as they began firing at me.  My natural
instincts kicked in and I started
dodging the laser shots as they appeared to be coming out of the screen and right for me. I
wasted the first storm trooper and then decided to entertain myself by pulling the second
one. Sure
enough, Force Pull managed to throw the storm trooper right in my direction. Out came the
light saber, and his three-dimensional body parts went in multiple directions. (I always
play with
saberRealisticCombat on, heh.)After about ten minutes of Jedi Knight II, I started loading most of my older games that I thought would be cool in 3D. While The Secret of Monkey Island didn’t have the effect I would have hoped for, X-Wing Alliance was probably the best 3D of the day. Dodging TIE fighters in 3D, you can imagine. Other games that I recommend: Max Payne, Counter-Strike, Soldier of Fortune II, and Grand Theft Auto 3. Final Thoughts The visual benefits that come with the glasses are surprisingly good; however, I don’t think most people will use the glasses every time they load a game. I plan on using the glasses during single player, but I like my multiplayer straight up. Setup and installation are the quickest steps, while tweaking the performance of each game takes the most time. If you are looking for either more realism from your game or a new, fun way to play old games: order a pair of E-D Glasses. They really do work! Product Information Wired Glasses: $69.99 Wireless Glasses: $99.99 -- Michael "ZeroXcape" Yared
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