I decided to skip out on going to QuakeCon today, as I'm feeling pretty ill. I'll just write about one thing I got to see that I was holding out for tomorrow; NVidia's 3D tech.
Tucked away in a little corner, there was an NVidia booth with three demos of Batman: Arkham Asylum set up. The thing that made it unique was the pair of shades they had next to the TV and computer monitors. They had a small wire running out of the glasses, and without the glasses, the image on the screen looked very blurry. When I put them on, I was treated to some of the best 3D I have ever seen. As far as I can tell, it's not any of that pop-out crap you see over-used in every single 3D movie, but instead adds a certain depth to the world that makes the game much more immersive.
The device has support for 350 + games, and the only real downside is that to use it you need to get a 3D capable monitor, HDTV or projector. NVidia sells a bundle that includes the Vision Kit with a 22 inch Samsung monitor for $598. That's really, really pricey. I think I'll just wait for it to be cheaper...

I saw this advertised a while back, and thought it had the possibility to be good, but obviously the extra cost is an issue.
If money was no object, would you recommed it?
Also, does it work independantly of the game itself? when you say it has support for 350 games, is that all based on the graphics card doing the extra work, rather than the developer having to add something to the actual game?

I would recommend it if you have the money and don't mind wearing a special kind of glasses while you play. Also, NVidia's site makes it sound like the GPU is doing the work, as it says that you need a GPU up to a certain point in order to use it.

They were like those new, non-red-and-blue glasses you get when going to 3D movies in theaters today, only much better quality and with a cable feeding it to the computer. I didn't see anything that looked like it opens and closes, so I guess they weren't shutter glasses.

They wouldn't necessarily need any actual shutters to have the same effect - could be some sort of polarising thing that blanks out one eye at a time. Kind of like that privacy glass stuff.

Pong in glorious 3D?
Now move the paddle in 2 dimensions! (up/down and in/out of the screen)

Exactly. I didn't mean mechanical shutters. More likely transparent LCDs. Pure polarization would work as well, provided the monitor can show two concurrent images at perpendicular polarizations, but that wouldn't require any electronics in the glasses themselves.

That seems like a pretty good price to me, actually. I mean, it's definitely expensive, but I've seen far more expensive in recent years. For someone with money to blow, I can see it being worth it. For folks like us..we'll wait a few more years. ;)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Overview.html

"3D Glasses type: Wireless Shutter glasses" :-)

My eyes aren't aligned correctly for 3D glasses, so this sort of thing is wasted on me; regardless, I wouldn't want to wear some stupid pair of glasses the whole time just to see some depth. I'm holding out for when 3D is built into the monitor itself, and even then I will be a bit skeptical.

Agreed.

Basically it's a case of "same snake, different oil" then?

That 3D-in-monitor technology is around, but who knows when consumers will get a fair crack at it. The depth is amazing - I've been playing Prototype with the crappy red/blue stuff to get a feel for what nVidia 3D is like, and I have to say I am probably going to be picking up the equipment. It's amazing. Of course, when I'm about to spend that much I'll probably back down, but oh, how I want it.

Well, if your eyes are aligned for it, the new 3d movies are pretty awesome. Gaming like that would be a much bigger leap forward than any of the recent "generations" of consoles.
Though they do give me a headache after about an hour...