Not everything goes well for NVIDIA: its biggest failure

It is possible that you have ever tried the experience of virtual reality glasses to play games. The truth is that there is a predecessor technology sponsored by NVIDIA and that it was a huge failure. We are talking about NVIDIA 3D Vision, a technology that came with the fever of 3D televisions and that has ended in a huge failure.

You may not even remember this technology and surely you have never tried it. It’s normal, it was an extremely expensive technology, which required special glasses and a specific gaming monitor. Only the glasses and the monitor were around 800 euros, to which you had to add a computer to move it. Although it may not seem like much, today the monitor would cost more than 1000 euros and the glasses 300 euros, quietly.

Not everything goes well for NVIDIA

What was NVIDIA 3D Vision?

We are talking about a technology similar to the 3D of cinema, but taken to the world of video games . NVIDIA 3D Vision technology was launched in 2008, which sought to bring the immersive effect of 3D to the world of video games. Such 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 with 1080p resolution and a refresh rate of 120 Hz . Although today these things are as common as going to buy bread, back then it was something new. We must bear in mind that this technology was compatible with CRT monitors (those with asses) as long as they had a 1024×768 resolution and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It was also compatible with certain projects.

elementos tecnología gafas 3d videojuegos

In addition to the monitor, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or an AMD Athlon X2 or better was required. Come on, with a dual core processor you had enough for this technology. A total of 2 GB DDR2 was also needed.

One of the most problematic points was the graphics card, since it required a certain amount of power. At a minimum, NVIDIA recommended a GTX 260 or better . It wasn’t a particularly high requirement, but if you wanted good performance, you really had to go for a GTX 280.

tecnologia nvidia 3d visión

Lack of interest by manufacturers, developers and users

NVIDIA 3D Vision had all the ballots to be a resounding failure , as it was. Only the glasses with their necessary accessories cost about 200 euros. This made it a really uninteresting product in itself.

But, in addition, you needed a special monitor that supported said technology. Only 7 compatible monitors were released and they cost 500 euros or more, which was a lot of money.

If there were enough compatible games, up to 38 were released with compatibility. They weren’t bad games, as we had, between them, The Witcher 2, Mafia 2, Just Cause 2, Civilization V, several Battlefields, and the first three Batman Arkham games.

Batman Arkham Asylum

I remember trying this technology with Resident Evil 5, which was quite interesting, but not much else. It was at a Lan Party, so maybe the experience wasn’t as good as it should have been, but it wasn’t a “game changing” feel anyway. It was just flashy and different, you had more depth, although there was no reason to spend on that.

Most supported games were released between 2010 and 2012. After 2012 no supported games were released as it was more expensive to develop for this technology than the number of users who would use it.

Despite everything, NVIDIA continued to offer driver support for this technology until April 11, 2019 . As of that date, support for NVIDIA 3D Vision was completely withdrawn.

If I wanted to make you with some, as a souvenir, they are currently sold in Wallapop for about 30 euros.