Many hardware manufacturers have already taken steps to promote 3D gaming. iZ3D, makers of the "world's first 3D monitor designed for games," already features an expansive list of games compatible with their monitor. In a recent editorial featured in Official Xbox Magazine, Aaron Rapp, marketing manager for iZ3D, claims that playing in 3D is the ultimate experience, and will help gamers become better at their hobby. "You'll see rockets whizzing by you," says Rapp. "You'll see true depth. You're no longer shooting at a flat image. Your aim will get better."

Unfortunately, a larger adoption of hardware needed to display three-dimensional graphics -- monitors and HD television sets -- will be needed before 3D permeates mainstream gaming. James Cameron notes that Ubisoft, who is developing the game Avatar based on Cameron's upcoming film of the same name, has a 3D version of the game running on Xbox 360. Since the console does not have dual video output channels -- necessary for viewing 3D graphics -- one could speculate that Ubisoft is running the game on a 3D monitor or HD television.

The move to 3D gaming would probably be a tentative one at best, due to previous failures such as Nintendo's Virtual Boy system. Still, it's most likely an inevitability, given the steps taken to bring movies, a close cousin to video games, into the realm of 3D. Over 1,000 U.S. theaters are already equipped with stereoscopic projectors, but James Cameron hopes to see that number soar significantly by the time Avatar debuts in 2009.

"When you are viewing in stereo, which is what we do," Cameron said, "more neurons are firing. More blood is pumping through the brain." Cameron sees one possible method of greater 3D adoption as using the projectors to show features such as sporting events. "We're not quite there but we are on the cusp of that and people need to have a strategy for it," he said.