Think the latest XBox, PSP3 or Wii will take gaming to a whole new level? While it’s true faster processing (polygon crunching in gamers jargon) or higher capacity disc drives (Blue-ray or HD DVD) will lead to a more realistic game experience, it ultimately gets down to the display (and the famous rhetorical question: What are you looking at?) Perhaps one of the coolest devices to hit game-gear status at this year’s E3 was a head-mounted Z800 display visor from eMagin.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
of Projection Monthly

Now the company is announcing an update to its SDK (software developers’ kit) v.2.2 that will support OpenGL, the standard coding language for graphics rendering, particularly useful in PC gaming applications. The company also included a DLL (dynamic link library) that enables simple head movements to control actions in a game or simulation. The update includes sample code in both DirectX and OpenGL to enable use of head movements to control specific actions inside a game or simulation. Developers can implement these additions without affecting either game performance or image rendering.

What does this mean? - it easier for game developers to incorporate hooks in games that are activated by head movements. This is pretty cool when you realize that donning the Z800 visor means you are doing this in a 3D 360-degree environment with a whopping 105-inch virtual image with head-motion tracking with six degrees of freedom. The twin OLED displays each offer SVGA resolution too - much higher than most other headsets. The Z800 also includes an audio system with stereo earbuds and a noise-canceling microphone. This is what the company calls a "near-immersive" experience and what gamers call "nirvana."

To top it all off, at E3, eMagin used the headline game conference to announce a dramatic 61% price drop for its Z800 3DVisor dropping the price from $900 to a cool $549 MSRP with the hopes of enticing the high-tech crowd to an immersive visual upgrade.

Finally, the company claims using the device in mobile applications like laptops offers a battery life boost using the Z800 display over the power hungry LCD screen. The device requires only a standard USB port for connectivity.

But make no mistake, 105-inch virtual viewing with full 360-degree head tracking support takes gaming to a whole new level, so battery life extension is just icing on the cake for most gamers looking to finally move into the next century with this cool display. –SS