Will they ever make games that utilizes dual monitor setups?

[Dankk]

Playing video games with 2 monitors doesn't make any sense. Because it's an even number, you have a giant seam running down the center of your viewing area, forcing you to use either one monitor or the other... which would then break any sense of symmetry you had before.

Even if I only played the game on 1 monitor, having a second monitor turned on with the desktop or web browser showing would break my immersion greatly. I'd have to turn off the second monitor every time I wanted immerse myself in a game.

Supreme Commander is the only dual-monitor game that makes sense.

Speaking of which...

(pic)

That looks delicious.

 

[CVSiN]

For the people that use eyefinity, do the monitor edges just dissapear from your view after a while? I feel as if I couldn't get past that issue.

you wont even notice them... i thought it would be huge as well.. but its not.. and it is also far cooler than running on a LARGE single screen as well..

once people try this they wont want to do anything else..

I am a recent convert after playing BFBC2 at Frys on an Eyefinity setup.. I bought it the same day.. 3 new matching mons and a AMD crossfire 6950 setup.

switched from Nvidia.

 

[CVSiN]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Ji1BNwzJw&feature=player_embedded


This guy has a similar setup to me.. except I dont drive my char lol!

 

[greenhawk]

I'd be happy if most games simply coded games properly to run with dual monitors yet alone get maximum use out of them.

+1

That being said, Supream commander did dual screens, as do most flight sims.

The reason currently that it is not done is consoles. Dual screens are not possible, so why code for it. Bad enough games are limiting interface controlls down to a 2 button mouse and the wasd keys.

edit: as to working out dual screen users. The steam hardware review records resolutions, just need to look for the odd sizes and the ones that have to be dual (ie: twice the normal width of a standard screen res).

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Even if I only played the game on 1 monitor, having a second monitor turned on with the desktop or web browser showing would break my immersion greatly. I'd have to turn off the second monitor every time I wanted immerse myself in a game.

My second monitor is much smaller and angled off to the side so I don't see it when I'm focused on a game.

 

[darkxshade]

I don't think there's many games that make sense to utilize the second monitor secondarily. So between the two I don't see it being enough for a developer to do it.

Isn't that kind of a catch 22? In order for there to be a mass dual setup adoption, you'd need to give people a reason to do it and the developers aren't doing it because there's no mass dual monitor adoption.

 

[BrightCandle]

For the people that use eyefinity, do the monitor edges just dissapear from your view after a while? I feel as if I couldn't get past that issue.

In some games and not others. Its odd but I could never quite feel right in battlefield bad company 2 and yet in F1 2011 and Arma2 I don't see them at all anymore. To game at 5760x1200 you do need a lot of graphics performance, especially if you want the eye candy turned on as well. 2GB VRAM per card is essential as well as I have unfortunately found out having bought a 5970.

If you haven't used eyefinity find a friend or a PC shop with it setup and play with it for about 20 minutes. That is long enough for the initial feeling of seeing the bars to fade and also should allow the feeling of being somewhat visually overwhelmed to ease as well. You don't appreciate what you miss visually with a single monitor, but when you add all that peripheral vision back in your brain has to learn again how to concentrate in the game, it did for me anyway. It really does make some games awesome.

The first time I played BBC2 I was cowering in a corner with a feeling of fear from all the explosions and shelling, my brain was just overloaded. I've played hundreds of hours of the game and eyefinity reduced me to a little girl due to the extra visual impact. However within 5 minutes I had spotted 2 flanker in peripheral vision and got the jump on them because they weren't directly facing me they didn't see me coming. Had they had Eyefinity we'd have spotted each other at the same time. In Arma 2 I use it to get a full view left and right making coordination with a fireteam easier. In F1 2010/2011 it gives you the ability to look into the corner to spot your turn in point or makes it easier to choose a breaking point off the track.

I would like to move to 5x1 some day so I have a full 180 degree to the front FOV without the stretching we see today. It will solve a lot of the limitations we have with visibility in modern games and amp up the realism another notch. I hate it when I can't game eyefinity because of performance problems or game issues.

 

[Elcs]

I used to play X2: The Threat (a great part of the X series by Egosoft) with dual monitors on my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. It was slow, sluggish but omg awesome.

Go into a fight in my Battleship with escort fleet, have one screen for steering and the other screen watching 4 of my turrets track targets and rip the hell out of them.

But in 2007 I went for the single large monitor route, 42" Panasonic Plasma TV then 47" LG LCD TV (much to my chagrin, I went LCD. I wish I could afford to go 3D and Plasma, let the TV do the 3D for me?)

Speaking of which...

Bezels kill it for me. Why can't I do something like that on my single 47" LCD TV? It's probably about as big as that 6 monitor setup Probably the resolution issues and display adapters.

 

[busydude]

Personally, I would like to have only odd number or monitors to play games with.






Or, a holodeck.

 

[Veliko]

+1

That being said, Supream commander did dual screens, as do most flight sims.

The reason currently that it is not done is consoles. Dual screens are not possible, so why code for it. Bad enough games are limiting interface controlls down to a 2 button mouse and the wasd keys.

It's nothing to do with consoles, there just isn't the demand for it.

 

[Bryf50]

World in Conflict let you use dual monitors similar to SupCom. I wish more people would play it online. It's really an amazing game.

 

[SMOGZINN]

We cant even get good multithreading in many games. Dual monitor setups are the least of anyone's concerns.

I agree, asking for dual monitor support is asking for a little to much right now. Good multithreading? Lets shoot for every game able to address more then 2 gig of memory and have fully mappable keys, widescreen FOV, menus that can be used with a mouse. Basically just games that are made with a computer in mind, or at least some effort put into the port so they look and feel like someone at some point said, 'what about PC players?'

 

[TheUnk]

Speaking of which...

Some people just dont get it. He isn't gaining much more over a large single screen monitor at all. Infact I would say his gaming experience is worse from having so many bezels. A big 60" screen would be about the same, without the bezels, and without having to run a stupid high resolution.

3 monitors in landscape are the best option.

 

[ichy]

Eve Online can make great use of multiple monitors.

Yeah. When I play EVE I run two accounts, so two monitors are almost essential. Double-boxing really enhances that game.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm not really a fan of dual monitors for gaming since many games have you centered. I think 3 would be the sweetspot if you had the space and/or setup for it.

I did try 2 for Eve, and while the extra real estate was nice, I couldn't get past the ship being split in two.

For everything else non-game I love dual monitors.

 

[HarvardAce]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Ji1BNwzJw&feature=player_embedded


This guy has a similar setup to me.. except I dont drive my char lol!

That's a really big stretch of real estate to move between the middle hotbars and the right one. Also, I'm not a huge fan of how everything gets stretched out on the periphery.

As for people complaining about having two monitors result in a big break in the middle of the screen, I think the idea is that the second monitor isn't used to expand the main game screen but is instead used for secondary purposes (e.g. map, inventory, chat, etc.). Your viewpoint would still be confined to one monitor, but all the extra stuff that usually takes up space on top of your viewpoint would be moved over to the second monitor where it would be less in the way.

 

[Imaginer]

You made mention of most people having two monitors by now or that monitor prices are so low that price isnt an excuse to not have a dual setup....

But what about HTPC gamers? My gaming PC is hoooked to my main TV. I am not sure how to shoehorn a second display if games started to REQUIRE dual monitors or that having one is a definite improvement in gameplay experiences.

 

[darkxshade]

I never said it would be a requirement... I said as an option. If it was turned off, it would be displayed in the primary monitor and you would have to press buttons to access secondary screens. If it was turned on, all of this will be pushed to the 2nd display. Shouldn't be that hard for devs to implement... vs trying to program games to use multiple cores, etc.

 

[Wekiva]

Every gamer I know (7 or 8) has a dual monitor setup.

Getting all the clutter and crap off my BF3 monitor would be sweet. I'd love to turn off that HUMUNGOUS blue chat window. How the hell has that not been changed by a patch yet?

 

[drizek]

Looks like the Steam Hardware Survey shows less than 10% use multi monitors. I don't think there's many games that make sense to utilize the second monitor secondarily. So between the two I don't see it being enough for a developer to do it.

I bet those 10% are just laptop users who have a desktop LCD hooked up.

 

[videogames101]

Supreme Commander uses two monitors.