We'll admit it, we fell asleep during James Cameron's epic description of the game that will accompany his latest movie, Avatar, during E3 earlier this week, so we have no idea what it will be like. What we do know however, is that the movie is expected to be another leap forward for 3D technology, and apparently the game will be as well, now that Sensio has announced Ubisoft will deliver it in stereoscopic 3D. All that should be required is connecting one of the consoles to a Sensio-compatible TV (Panasonic's 3D Full HD Plasma Home Theater System was used to demo the game at E3, although its unclear if that was a special version) and a pair of 3D glasses.

iZ3D, the company responsible for that $399 22-inch 3D monitor, has just unveiled a new way to see the third dimension at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. The new polarized 3D glasses are currently in beta testing and should soon be released alongside the iZ3D v2.0 / DirectX 10 driver. Reportedly, these linear polarized glasses will solve color viewing issues experienced by some users, not to mention allowing for easier user adjustments. Full releases for both the spectacles and the new driver are just past the break.

Sensio sure is racking up the support of late, first being deemed an official (albeit optional) 3D standard by the DVD Forum, and now nabbing a crucial US patent on its way to three-dee domination. The patent reportedly covers the distribution and formatting technology of stereoscopic contents on different 2D or 3D screens, which is a method that the company has developed and marketed for years. Nicholas Routhier, the company's president and CEO, proudly noted that "with this patent in hand and the recently announced developments, we believe that we have significantly increased our chances to become the 3D distribution standard for the consumer market." Of course, Panasonic would likely love to argue that very point, so we'd go ahead and get prepared for yet another format war just in case these two really do drop the gloves.

Forget all those 1080p sets with internet connectivity -- what you really want is an HDTV that does three-dee. Over at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, 3DFusion has announced the market launch of its 3DFMax stereoscopic, glasses free, broadcast ready (get all that?) 3D display. The set is built upon the Philips WOWvx 3D solution, but outside of that, we're really left to wonder what this thing's made of. No resolution, no contrast ratio, no price. Just the hope of a chicken in every pot and a 3D HDTV in every den.

So look, we fully understand that Hollywood and just about everyone who follows the industry is gravitating towards 3D, but the red flags here are just too bright to ignore. Next3D has just pumped out a completely unbelievable press release claiming that it's oh-so-close to establishing the first in-home 3D distribution service. For starters, it claims to integrate nicely with the Xbox 360, which sounds more than a little suspicious. Next, we're told that "like YouTube, Next3D will offer user-created content channels for stereo enthusiasts to post and share 3D video and still images." Right, because so many consumers have handheld 3D cameras to capture this stuff. Sorry, but the vaporware stamp has officially been slammed.

Look for something to drive your new Samsung monitor or 120Hz 3D HDTV? Enter NVIDIA's GeForce 3D Vision package, loaded up with powered 3D glasses (no red / blue silliness here, charged via USB) and an IR emitter to keep everything synced between the display and your glasses. Left 4 Dead, WoW: WotLK and several other games are already compatible with more expected to come soon. CES had a quick demo and didn't notice any of the headaches sometimes associated with stereocopic 3D, but at $399 for the display and $199 for this set when it's available in the next few days, we're not sure how close we want to get to those zombies, but WoW fans may see things differently.

Add another to the CES must-see list, as DDD TriDef and Altera have teamed up to create automatic 2D-to-3D converting processors. Slated to run demos on a 46-inch Hyundai IT 3D LCD , the opportunity for plug and play 3D could make for an easy transition, just like the jump to HD (ha!) While you collectively shudder from horrible memories of the old days of high definition, we'll ponder whether this is the same sterescopic 3D chip Samsung is testing with an eye towards a late '09 release. Considering their long track record with DDD finding this hardware a home next to your MediaLive Digital Media Adapter doesn't seem to be entirely unreasonable speculation.

Sensio already partnered with JVC in the consumer 3D projection realm, and now it's looking to bring live 3D broadcasting capabilities to 50 more cinemas in the United States. The 3D cinema decoding technology will be used by Cinedigm Digital Cinema -- the same folks responsible for bringing the BCS National Championship to a slew of theaters in 3D. We're actually quite curious to see how all of this pans out; will 3D fanatics (like this guy above, obviously) rush out to view every big sporting event on the silver screen, or will HD feeds on their own big screen be good enough?

Take this one with a sizable dose of salt, but one Neil Schneider, President and CEO of Meant to be Seen (MTBS), Blitz Games Studios, has made known that Sony "fully intends" to throw in its support for "stereoscopic 3D gaming and Blu-ray 3D on PS3 in 2009 with the Blitz Tech engine." Granted, MTBS is a stereoscopic 3D certification and advocacy group, thus the whole "salt warning." The meat of the story is that 3D gaming on consoles will likely need a BIOS upgrade to work with its technology, and that capability could be unique to Sony's PS3. Like we said, this here is far from carved in stone, but given how emphatically movie studios, cinemas and home entertainment companies are pushing the third-dimension on us, we wouldn't be surprised one bit to hear that the next installment of Madden is one that requires tinted glasses to fully enjoy.

[Via HDTV Expert]

Quite frankly, we're still a bit miffed at what all RealD's 3D-PODs actually are, but we can (attempt to) explain what they do. Straight from Real3D's lips, it is delivering the "first 3D stereoscopic converter PODs," which present a "simple conversion solution when upgrading to a new stereoscopic display monitor, such as a DLP or XPOL HDTV." Still confused? Let us forge on: "the PODs automatically detect the output format from a connected display device and convert most stereo-enabled software applications from native stereoscopic output format to the required format for stereo viewing on the display monitor." We're told that these PODs (three variants are available) are specifically aimed at R&D environments, where "3D visualization is heavily used and where departments or organizations are seeking alternatives to CRT display technology for stereoscopic applications." Hmmph -- this would all be so much easier to digest if there were an accompanying image.

[Via SoCalTech]

For those of you plugging your ears whilst humming along in hopes of this whole 3D revolution fading away, we've got a rude awakening headed your way. Just days after hearing that the HDMI specification could be updated to better handle stereoscopic 3D content, along comes word that Panasonic has submitted a proposal to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) for an official BD standard to store 3D imagery formed of "left / right-eye two-channel Full HD images." Panny reportedly made the move early in order avoid a format war, but really, it's just looking to cash in on royalties for the next decade five years or less. It's no secret that movie studios are dead set on moving forward with 3D production -- might as well be ready on the other end, right?

[Image courtesy of 3DS]

Like it or not, 3D is making a beeline for your home. It may be subtle, but companies are toiling behind the scenes to make sure the third-dimension becomes a reliable revenue stream in the future. Speaking of those companies, a number of HDMI proponents are currently estimating that the HDMI specification will eventually be updated to make it ready to handle the most robust stereoscopic material Hollywood can offer. As it stands, the current HDMI 1.3 spec should be able to handle first-gen material, but eventually, backers want it to support 120Hz rates for HD and multiple 3D views. 'Course, that change is "a long, long way off" according to Steve Venuti, president of HDMI LLC, but a CEA working group has already been established to "update the standard that defines an uncompressed video interface referenced in turn by the HDMI standard." We've got an eerie feeling we'll be sporting 3D goggles for an uncomfortably large swath of time at CES 2009.

One day, not too far off in the distant future, we have a dream that all 3D displays will be able to engross us in the third-dimension sans goggles. That these no-glasses-required 3D displays will be the rule, and not the exception. Till that fateful day arrives, however, we're still going to be impressed with ones similar to NEC's latest, a 12.1-incher with an SVGA (800 x 600) resolution. Reportedly, the outfit has developed the prototype screen to show off 3D material without requiring the viewer to ugly up their face with a set of those wonky glasses. There's no sign of a commercial release just yet, but we'll be keeping our naked eyes peeled just in case that changes.

[Via Tech-On]

On the slim chance that a 52-inch, no-glasses-needed 3D HDTV wasn't swank enough for you, Philips is one-upping itself at the Biz-Ex conference in Hollywood. This 56-inch monstrosity is hailed as a Quad Full Autostereoscopic 3D HDTV, which means that it packs a slightly absurd (in a good way, of course) 3,840 x 2,160 resolution and can churn through data at an alarming rate. Additionally, Philips is promising that this one can produce up to 46 views at once, which should go a long way in making the third-dimension a lot more believable on TV. There's no definitive release date just yet, but it'll probably run upwards of $25,000 whenever it's ready for prime time.

While this wasn't the only live 3D broadcast going on at IBC2008, we couldn't resist passing along a video of this one in action. Net Insight was at the show demonstrating a live 3D telepresence setup using a 1.5Gbps connection. From Stockholm (the show floor is in Amsterdam), a company employee was able to wave and communicate in real-time in stunning 3D. The kicker? No funky goggles were required to see him, and while you needed to stand pretty much directly in front of the display in order to get the full effect, we can't help but be wowed at what went on here. Seriously, check out the video in the read link and imagine watching a movie in this manner in your own home. It's good stuff, we promise.

[Thanks, Tommie]