PC, PS3 and 360 Black Ops runs in 3D

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 5 October, 2010

"Could be definitive 3D game experience."

All three versions of guaranteed behemoth Call of Duty: Black Ops will support stereoscopic 3D at launch, Activision's announced.

You'll need a 3D telly or a PC that supports 3D, and active shutter glasses, of course. The PC version is NVIDIA 3D Vision-Ready and supports stereoscopic 3D gaming using 3D Vision active-shutter glasses and NVIDIA GeForce GPUs.

"Development of stereoscopic 3D began as an R&D project, but once we saw what the technology brought to the Call of Duty experience, what a great fit and how immersive it was, we knew that we had to develop it for Black Ops," Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia said.

"Aiming down the sights of your weapons, flying in helicopters, rappelling down mountains, and moving through highly detailed environments are just some of the awesome experiences you will have in 3D with Black Ops.

"We made sure the experience is seamless for gamers to use with a simple menu option to enable stereoscopic 3D or disable it at any time whether playing in the single player campaign, multiplayer or Zombies."

Activision reckons Black Ops "could become the definitive 3D game experience".

Nick Cowen went hands-on with Black Ops' multiplayer for Eurogamer last month. The game is due out worldwide on 9th November.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (68) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • sonicyoda #1 2 years ago

    Blimey, that's a bold move. I can imagine a 3D CoD will tempt quite a few people into investing in a new telly!

  • Gregolution #2 2 years ago

    Does that mean you can get 3d gaming out of an xbox or is this just ps3 and pc?

  • cianchristopher #3 2 years ago

    Aren't all games 3D-able on PC with the Nvidia 3D glasses thing?

    I mean if you look at the reviews on Amazon, they all talk about Left 4 Dead and Modern Warfare 2 and others in 3D...

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/NVIDIA-GeForce-3...

  • DAN.E.B #4 2 years ago

    the xbox will probably use the same tec as sky where you dont need hdmi 1.4
    which seems to work well! its not the first 3d game on 360
    Edited by DAN.E.B at 05/10/10 @ 13:44

  • king2001 #5 2 years ago

    @greg

    It just means you need a 3D enabled TV. Will also be interested to see if it generates a performance hit - bring it on DF!

  • ISmoke #6 2 years ago

    That's what I've always though Cian, my friend can play all his games in 3D i just thought it doubled the display unless there is something we're missing?

  • Ryboy #7 2 years ago

    No thank you. Go away.

  • jumpdeveraux #8 2 years ago

    Check the Nvidia site, you need specific monitors that support the technology (most of which can't do 1920x1200 res only lower).

    I was amazed with the Starcraft 2 3D at the eurogamer expo so wandered over to Nvidia site to find out more - new monitor put me off.

  • Widge #9 2 years ago

    I AM NOT GIVING ANY MONEY TO CAPTAIN GRIN FACE.

  • Widge #10 2 years ago

    I think games can be forced into 3D on PC, no clue if anything has been designed from the ground up to take 3D into account?

    Be interesting to see whether this is a shoehorn solution on the consoles. Definitive might be further from the truth if that is the case.

  • FogHeart #11 2 years ago

    /dreads the comments section of the first 3D face off....

  • coolbritannia #12 2 years ago

    Ah fuck 3D it's nowhere near good enough yet. I honestly sometimes feel like the only guy pointing out the emperor is naked round here...

  • Widge #13 2 years ago

    Yeah, I dread it too. I just get the feeling that they'll get it up and running on 360, then port across to the PS3 in the same fashion as the previous COD games, it won't quite be up to scratch and then it'll be used as the yardstick of PS3 3D performance...

  • kangarootoo #14 2 years ago

    I've seen an fps running in 3D, and it makes a hell of a difference. Placing enemies, and gauging the distance to them, really gets a helping hand. Shooters and driving games seem to be the two genres that benefit the most, so its good to see CoD taking a lead.

    @cianchristopher and ISmoke

    Maybe the Nvidia drivers can do some post processing to create a 3D effect, but I'd be surprised if it were as good as rendering two distinct views from within the game. I guess this is much like 3D film, where you can film using special binocular cameras, or add 3D after filming using post-processing (for a reportedly poorer effect).

  • des #15 2 years ago

    It looks like Sony is late as usual...lol

    3D...yuck

  • peteb #16 2 years ago

    30FPS Call of Duty confirmed? :-P

  • K1LLAY #17 2 years ago

    Will it run @60fps or below for 3D?! ツ

  • iamian #18 2 years ago

    From my limited knowledge, I think most PC games can be 3D and that the GPU uses some of the DivX coordinate data to produce the images??
    I think it's a lot better if the game itself is designed for 3D though.

    Intersting that they aren't producing a standard AND a seperate 3D version at a higher price... it is Activision after all!

  • JensonJet #19 2 years ago

    No co-op campaign but the game will run in 3D.

    I would have thought gamers would have been better served by the inclusion of co-op campaign than specifically aiming a feature at those with 3D TVs. I never knew those things had sold so many units.

  • Daeltaja #20 2 years ago

    Already get a headache lookin at a PC monitor without 3d glasses!

  • bodypopper #21 2 years ago

    sonicyoda wrote: Blimey, that's a bold move. I can imagine a 3D CoD will tempt quite a few people into investing in a new telly!

    Yes, spending a few grand on a 3D TV to play a game that costs £40-50 in 3D sounds entirely sensible. And multiplayer (the reason many people buy CoD remember) in 3D won't be an advantage either as it's too distracting.

    If it happens at all, 3D's time will come next Xmas when there's more 'content' to be consumed, games included.
    Edited by bodypopper at 05/10/10 @ 14:48

  • Markitron #22 2 years ago

    Normally CoD is such as safe franchise, seems like Sonys push is starting to gain momentum. When Jo public see's 3D on the front of game boxs and advertised in TV stores 3D could take off in a big way (when the price comes down a little)

    Edit: There was a DF foundry a while back that took a look at what the 3D possibilities were for each platform. As I recall it pretty much found that multiplat 3D titles would more than likely be better on 360 but PS3 exclusives would be the highest quality.
    Edited by Markitron at 05/10/10 @ 14:55

  • drxym #23 2 years ago

    @DAN:SOLO Sky does 3D by packing the left and right eye into a single frame. Either side by side or one on top of the other. It means you either halve the horizontal or vertical resolution to make it work. It might be possible to claw back some resolution, if for example the set top box was outputting 1080p but the TV knew to slice it in two and rescale both halves to 720p.

    Anyway it's a hack and I'm sure Sky will get themselves in legal hot water if they claim their 3D service is HD because it isn't.

    Don't know what this means for the 360 but it's possible it has to do something similar because it is hampered by HDMI 1.2 bandwidth constraints.

  • RevanNL #24 2 years ago

    DIE 3D DIE

  • Widge #25 2 years ago

    I'm going with what Markitron says. I think from what I've read that the games that have been patched to have 3D shoehorned into them on the PS3 so far have been "ok", where the proper from the ground up titles are much better. What you won't see multiplat are games being done from the ground up on the PS3.

  • CaptainQuint #26 2 years ago

    It'll take more than a CoD game to make me go out and get a new telly. Throw in a quarter of lemon sherbets and I'll think about it.

  • orangpelupa #27 2 years ago

    btw if you have old CRT Monitor, usually it already can do 3D. Just set the resolution one step lower than the advertised resolution, it will then able to run @ 120Hz ++

    Atleast my 7 years old CRT can do 120Hz.. (albeit only at 800x600 lol)

    hmm.. those that want to try "3D", already have the nvidia glasses but dont want to spend a lot of money to buy 3D LCD, you can try looking at your garage/storage room. Maybe there old CRT monitor laying around :D :D
    Edited by orangpelupa at 05/10/10 @ 16:05

  • youhavenomail #28 2 years ago

    Poor old Killzone 3. It looks like its parade has just been cancelled due to torrential piss.

  • BradlayLaw #29 2 years ago

    This is a nice bonus. I'm not chomping at the bit to find reasons to put on my uncomfortable panasonic 3d specs but if it's there I'll give it ago. Wipeout HD 3d is awesome after all.

  • randompanda #30 2 years ago

    You can pick a 40" 3D-ready Samsung LCD for £700 now. Stop spouting shit about 3DTVs costing "a couple of grand" - there are non-3D TVs that cost more than a couple of grand!

  • CaptainQuint #31 2 years ago

    Will this work on my old black and white Grundig?

  • bodypopper #32 2 years ago

    @random panda

    I've seen 3D on pretty much all the new TVs and a 40in TV does not do 3D justice. 50in minimum I say and a projector is better even then.

  • Bander #33 2 years ago

    "Aiming down the sights of your weapons, flying in helicopters, rappelling down mountains, and moving through highly detailed environments are just some of the awesome experiences you will have in 3D with Black Ops."

    I'm no weapons expert, but isn't a gun sight usually a one-eye, monoscopic thing?

  • Negotiator #34 2 years ago

    And the 360 can do 3D just like Microsoft said it could, and Digital Foundry said it couldn't, muppets.

  • kangarootoo #35 2 years ago

    @Bander

    The game I saw rendered everything in 3D when you were shooting from the hip. But if you went into iron sights view (it was actually a red dot prism sight) the background would blur slightly (depth of fielld effect) but remained in 3D, wheras the view through the optic sight would be rendered in 2D (as you rightly say it would be through a real prism sight). The effect was way cool.

  • randompanda #36 2 years ago

    bodypopper - 3D works on a 40" display as long as you're sitting the correct distance, just as the same rules apply to HD. Doesn't change the fact you can have a 40" 3DTV for a third of what you're implying it costs.

  • kangarootoo #37 2 years ago

    And whether a 42" TV does justice to 3D isn't really the point. It could be argued by a big TV advocate that anything less than 46" doesn't do justice to anything (as a 32" owner myself, I wouldn't really know).

    3D TVs cost little more than their non-3D counterparts (as all a 3D TV enabled TV really needs is a high refresh rate). The 2 grand 3D TVs just occupy the slot that the top end TVs have always occupied. You have always been able to spend two grand on a TV if you wanted to, but that doesn't mean cheaper (perfectly good for the needs of most) models don't exist also.

  • Dave52 #38 2 years ago

    Played KZ3 in 3D this weekend at Eurogamer, it was pretty awesome. Gave the whole experience "depth", but it did feel a little like looking through a window. The new Motorstorm was pretty bloody cool in 3D as well.

    I think 3D is a nice to have and something I will be looking at next year when the prices of the new TVs calm down a little...

    I'm suprised that COD BO hasn't been fan-fairing this tbh...

  • JensonJet #39 2 years ago

    I'd rather have a TV and console game run at 4000 x 2500 or higher resolution. Fine detail and high resolution are far more interesting and worthwhile than 3D.

  • Darren #40 2 years ago

    Oh right, so Activision needs a gimmick to ensure people consider buying Call of Duty: Black Ops over EA's Medal of Honour then. They must worried if they're adding 3D then... ;)

  • Lunatic4ever #41 2 years ago

    I love games but this whole 3D movement totally ain't my cup of tea.

  • bodypopper #42 2 years ago

    My point was, in my opinion, you need to spend more to get a decent effect from a bigger screen - not that (I agree) they're vastly more expensive than other non-3D high end sets.
    3D needs to envelop you as it can do at the cinema and that's hard for a smallish TV in a big living room (but easier in a gamer's bedroom perhaps).
    And the limited amount of games, Blu rays and 3D TVs around doesn't justify the upgrade yet.
    Edited by bodypopper at 05/10/10 @ 17:29

  • Collymilad #43 2 years ago

    @randompanda

    Where? Genuine question, not saying you're lying.

  • kangarootoo #44 2 years ago

    "Fine detail and high resolution are far more interesting and worthwhile than 3D."

    I guess that is one of those "agree to disagree" statements on which this dicsussion will eternally float. After a point, I couldn't care less what resolution is in use. I also think the drop in texture quality is much overstated by those that don't like 3D. I honestly couldn't tell the difference. Perhaps I could have if I'd scrutinised, but I didn't scrutinise because I was too busy playing and having fun.


    @bodypopper

    Well of course a bigger TV will give a better experience, no doubt. I just think it is questionable to state that 3D won't work on anything under a certain size. I've seen 3D in the cinema, and I've seen it on a 46" (I think). The experience is different, but they were both very good. And I know from experience that even a TV as small as my own would benefit in the same way, if not by the same degree.

  • WJF #45 2 years ago

    Aren't the 'glasses free' TVs going to start coming out in a year or two, though?

    Seems a bit pointless buying a 3DTV now, especially cons----
    ----

    Sorry, Sony PR here. We felt that this post did not comply with our marketing push this Christmas, so we've decided to set the record straight.

    3D is best experienced NOW! Why wait for future, when you can experience it today..In 3D! Buy the sodding things before they're obsolete next year!

    (Our own glasses-free 3D TVs will be demonstrated to the public next week. Please continue buying the glasses et al. before we release it.)

    http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/10/05/...

  • Junglist95 #46 2 years ago

    "I also think the drop in texture quality is much overstated by those that don't like 3D. I honestly couldn't tell the difference".

    Having played KZ3 & Motorstorm @ the expo over the weekend & never before experiencing any 3D gaming, the very 1st thing i said to a friend when coming away from the game was "the added depth is great but i don't like the lack of detail" (i haven't been influenced in my feelings about this as i had no idea lack of detail was already an issue). To me its like the difference between component vs HDMI & 1080i vs 1080p as plain as night & day, (but then lots of people can't tell the difference between both those examples), based on what i saw @ the expo i think i'll hold off any 3D TV upgrades until TVs/consoles offer 3D @ twice the current resolution, in other words true 3DHD
    Edited by Junglist95 at 05/10/10 @ 18:59

  • Bander #47 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo thanks for that info. From this story I was worried that they'd accidentally put a stereoscopic image down the sight!

  • BadBoyBonner #48 2 years ago

    If I remember rightly - the COD engine only runs at 1024x600 on the consoles anyway so enabling 3D will not be to the loss of true HD. What remains to be seen is if it uses something similar to Crytek's solution (Z Buffer type shenanigans) and tries to maintain the 60fps or a 30fps true stereoscopic image.

  • Zelf1 #49 2 years ago

    never knew they were intending to implement 3D, this has made it interesting for me as i have a 3D TV but was going to get MOH this time around but its added an extra bit of sugar on the top of balck ops, i know EA dont seem to be interested in 3D at the moment, shame.

  • BadBoyBonner #50 2 years ago

    @zelf1
    i know EA dont seem to be interested in 3D at the moment, shame.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/crysis...

  • dllord #51 2 years ago

    Wow wasnt expecting to be playing this in 3d on my 3dtv, itll be interesting to see how well 3d will run on my 360 compared to my ps3! Its going be a great advert for 3d thats for sure!

  • lockload #52 2 years ago

    @dllord

    Its only been demoed on 360 and they said it looked great

    There been a lot of hypobole from sony regard hdmi 1.4 but the reality is for gaming it is irrelevant because games will bever run in 1080p in 3d impossible with the current power of consoles

  • KayJay #53 2 years ago

    Why does everyone think its just Sony pushing 3D...

    [link url=http://www.lg.com/ae/it-products/3d-commercial-monitors/index.jsp
    ]http://www.lg.com/ae/it-products/3d-comm...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/tv-audio-video/television/3d-tv/index.idx?pagetype=subtype
    ]http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/tv-au...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/Viera+Flat+Screen+TV/Full+HD+3D+TV/Full+HD+3D+TV+Overview/Panasonic+Full+HD+3D/4916489/index.html
    ]http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Pr...[/link]

    They are all doing it...

  • Zelf1 #54 2 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner
    yeah apart from that one lol, though its more Crytek me thinks, i did read some where that EA were not complete fans at the moment, hopefully that changes for the rest of their games :-)

  • knightmt #55 2 years ago

    I would really dig a projector.

  • Ryze #56 2 years ago

    Awwww sh*t!

    /waits...

  • randompanda #57 2 years ago

    Colymilad - Samsung LE40C750 can generally be found with a bit of googling for sub-£800, I know Richersounds have (and may well do) for that price.


    bodypopper - Sorry but you're simply backpeddling now, you've incorrectly informed people that they *have* to spend over £2000 to get a 3DTV and now you're insisting that 3D only provides the "true experience" if you go over 50" - maybe even 60".

    It's bollocks and you know it. TV size - and the effect of 3D will always be proportional to your viewing distance. It's not up for debate.

  • HistoryTeller #58 2 years ago

    What a bunch of first movers!

  • Spydy #59 2 years ago

    So how does this work on 360's that don't have HDMI....? It doesn't. Fucking OWNED.

    Also, you need to be careful about what 3DTV to get. I've seen demo's on Samsung, Sony and Panny sets. Panny plasma was clearly the best. Sony's was a migraine sufferers worst nightmare. Horrible flickering and ghosting. Sammy faired slightly better. The Panny was out of this world. Incredible depth perception. I was literally moving out the way with some footage.
    Edited by Spydy at 05/10/10 @ 23:34

  • Farzlepot #60 2 years ago

    Good news for those four proud 3D TV owners then!

  • higganos #61 2 years ago

    People on here wanting 3D to die may be disappointed if Sony have anything to do with it. They are pushing super-aggressively in the states. Just back from Vegas and they have a monster display room in the MGM Grand that is 100% glass-walled and is screaming "Welcome to the Sony 3D experience" in 5 foot high letters. There are 65" panels everywhere showing montages of sports, movies and entertainment.
    No sales, no badgering, just "Come in folks! have seat y'all" and all that pish. In the corner they had a 54" Bravia with a PS3 running on it....holy shit it was impressive, especially wipeout and motorstorm.

    Unfortunately 3D isn't my cup of tea, so I won't be going anywhere near it....maybe in a few years time perhaps.

  • jackdoe #62 2 years ago

    Lol. Are they expecting it to run at 60 FPS in 3D? Because they already had to compromise on resolution just to get that done on the consoles. Are they going to compromise resolution even further?

  • Farzlepot #63 2 years ago

    Personally I can't imagine that those glasses, aside from being uncomfortable, are particularly good for your eyes. I won't be taking the plunge into the extra dimension until either the glasses disappear or some kind of study (not sponsored by Sony, of course) is released completely vindicating the technology.

    Maybe I'm getting old. I would never have cared about such a thing a few years ago...

  • drumbaby #64 2 years ago

    I hope this new fangled 3D does't require glasses. Every time me and the kids see a 3D movie at the cinema we all come out blind, blood running from our ears, and vomit pouring from our mouths.

  • geeza2020 #65 2 years ago

    Well it might be impressive to some people, but to me, 3D just doesn't justify me spending £800+ on a new telly. It just looks like a gimmick that'll probably make you feel sick after playing a game for more than an hour. Maybe when they are much, much cheaper I'll bother, but for now I'll just stick to my good old CRT telly. I don't even have an HD telly yet!!

  • monty2k #66 2 years ago

    Apparently there is a noticeable drop in the fidelity of the image:

    [link url=http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/05/call-of-duty-black-ops-preview-3d/
    ]http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/05/call-o...[/link]

    I don't really care though as I don't have a 3DTV :p

  • Zelf1 #67 2 years ago

    I can say i've never come away with a headache or feeling dizzy after watching anything in 3D. I have the Sony LX40" 3D TV and can honestly say it is amazing and was the best compared to the Samsung, Panasonic etc hence why i went for the Sony, if id seen that one of the others was better then obviously i would have gone for that instead. Even though in theory if the 2d game is running in 1080p and switching to 3D it will drop to 720p for example, me and everyone else that has seen games in 3D feel it does actually look better, to me the textures etc don't look worse at all and for the most part look better. I guess sometimes you can be to picky.

  • 3DJames #68 2 years ago

    3D Gaming is amazing - Its totally mind blowingly brilliant. I love my 3DTV and my 22" LCD 3D Ready monitor.

    http://www.3dtvglassesshop.co.uk