To start off, I'll admit that I use my projector as a general purpose PC monitor. That means that I use it for games from Solitaire to whatever else.

A couple of games, though, just seem to be SO much better on the projector. They really do benefit from having the big screen.

As you may guess, I'm something of a car person. I enjoy driving. I also enjoy driving video games. After building my projector, and firing up Need for Speed Underground 2 on the projector, I got hooked on big screen gaming. The virtual hood of my car looked actually life sized. It was nothing short of awesome.

FPS games, on the other hand, I tended to find the big screen as a double-edged sword. It's immersive, which is good, but since the HUDs are all at the edges of the screen, I found it distracting to have to move my head to look at them.

So whadda y'all think?

Racing games are great on the projector. I enjoy playing Gran Terismo 4 at 123" (even on my POS projector). Mario Kart 64 was a lot of fun with multilayer on the projector too. I have to say some old school 2D games are a lot of fun on the big screen too. Tetris, Mario, Sonic and so on.

In my opinion racing games are by far the best. I have 15 or more for the 360 alone. I agree with you on the FPS I lose to much info moving my eyes if the screen is to large. The Hi-def pop cap games you can download off of xbox live have awesome graphics. Centipede is a great example of downloadable games at there best. RGPs are great on the big screen. I am not much for RGPs But when folklore came out for the PS3 I was blown away by its detail. Skate and snowboard games I think suffered the most for me I still prefer them on a TV. And all games that have enhanced action suffer from jerky motion, fuzzy slow motion, I keep thinking to myself is it ghosting or was that just code.

Yea single player FPS are a chore on a REALLY big screen. But 2-4 player FPS is awesome. It's like everyone having their own 50" screen

I dunno, I LOVED playing Doom III on my PJ, but then, other than that I'm not a big gamer...

Well im still in the process of building- although i have a ps3 and i recon fight night would be an awesome game especially when you can box through your fighters eyes... but i agree with jonjordan multiplayer fps would be rediculous on a pj.

My PJ is down right now, but I loves me some Dirt for the Xbox Three-Hundred and Sixty! Even when someone else is playing I find myself subconsciously leaning into the curves... it's great!

A game I look forward to playing on the projector is Ikaruga! Just watching this video is exciting!

[edit]
OH NO! I just found out, from Wikipedia of all places, that Ikaruga hasn't been released for Xbox Live Arcade yet...
Looks like I'll have to dust off the Dreamcast...

Do you guys use wireless keyboards and a mouse to play FPS on the big screens? I've tried it a few times and while I think I might be able to get over the vertigo I can't for the life of me get the control setup comfortable.

oblivion is an obvious one. it looks fantastic

also ace combat 6 ... the cockpit view feels like a flight sim on the pj. awesome

and gears of war is pretty sick


i love my pj.

Enjoyed my flight sims with my last 15" and buku immersion, however first person shooters had me sick like a dog from vertigo.

MMORPG's like World of Warcraft and Everquest II are great for the big screen and the recliner.

Adjusting the text size can make things easier, plus using teamspeak to simply avoid the typing is the best. Needs a bright projector, though, because you really need some light for the keyboard. Also, if you are used to using a long-range view of the world to pick targets, etc., the smaller bits are harder to see on a projected screen. For an FPS, as an example, it becomes harder to get that headshot centered quickly. IMO

Oh come on, FPS's aren't that bad are they? I'll agree that racing games rock, but FPS's are still pretty good. How close are you sitting to the screen? I am only about seven or eight feet away from my 88.5 inch screen and I love it! But I geuss it is all just a matter of opinion

I play motocross madness, Monster Trucks, Diablo LOD , And Free Slot machines... LOD worked very well ... I got hooked on this game years ago and still play it today , I got one bad single player sorc and one bad ass Amazon both level 99 ... My daughter loves playing online games as well ... Although online games I have to lower the contrast a bit on the nivida card...

I don't think they are either. Gears of War and Rainbow 6 Vegas are awesome on the projector! I sit 8' away from my 108" (wide screen).

Didn't think this would be so popular a topic.

DOOM3 is one FPS exception, I think, because it seemed to be all about the mood that it set you in. The big screen makes it more immersive, and thus more effective. I think I had every light in the house turned on after that session though.

Flight sims... Yeah, I gotta try that.

I have a comfortable place that I can reach the keyboard and mouse from my normal seating position. Well... I HAD it set up that way. My wife rearranged the room, and now it's a bit more difficult.

I have a rig set up that holds my steering wheel controls, and can be modified for a flight yolk... (Hmmm... Now I'm thinking about it.) The controls make a HUGE difference, too.

SIMULATIONS seems to be the thing on PJs

I play Condor: The Competition Soaring Simulator, sitting so close to the screen, that i have to move around to see it all. LIKE the real deal (i used to fly gliders real life).

HEAD TRACKING device , FORGET CACHYA (free trial) USE FreeTrack (IR) 6DOF, FREE it uses a normal web cam, a floppy disk and IR diodes (you can use normal diodes).
-been testing it out, works like a charm, in front of the monitor, have to test it on the PJ.

-oh and "play/use/train" on RealFlight® R/C Flight Simulator

-and i have been sketching, a glider seat-controls-"chair" -to get that last feel.

you guys make me want to build another projector....seriously

but on my old projector, i have to say i did not enjoy playing halo at all.....which is the only game i ever played on it, but if i had it to redo heres a small list of games that i think would kill on the big screen

NES
original legend of zelda
all 3 ninja gaiden games
ninja turtles 2 and 3
all double dragons, and battletoads
blaster master
contra

SNES
earthworm jim
mortal kombat 1,2,3
aladdin
killer instinct
breath of fire

N64
mario 64
pilotwings 64
mariokart 64

PSX
final fantasies
dragonball gt final bout
mortal kombat trilogy

XBOX 360
assassins creed.....loved it btw, and cant wait for #2
rock band
guitar hero 2 and 3
csi

that should get the list started

HEY!!!!
This is the PC-Based Gaming forum!

well technically, everything but the 360 games can be played on the pc...and most of the games on the 360 are released or will be released for the 360....i just live in a console-idated world

Yeah, all of the old school (that's right, I said old school) games absolutely rock on my pj; Tetris for example on the atari Lynx is gorgeous!

Oh yeah, Halo does kind of suck on the pj. I think it is because Halo just isn't... for lack of a better term, made for a big screen. Halo 2 isn't bad, buuuuut I have seen better.


No School like the OLD School baby!!!

I've always enjoyed racing games as well. I cant imagine going back to an LCD. Here's a link to my racing setup movie I made before we had a fire. Don't worry, everything you see was saved lol. I mainly race Nascar 2003 and Rfactor, with a little trackmania nations here and there. Awaiting Arca Sim Racing's release. Some changes have been made with future ideas in mind when the house is finished (within a month).

http://byrd.asrl.us/gaming.zip

I'm building a pj with the Samsung 15.4 wuxga panel, is the response time on this good enough for fps?

I've been holding off on buying RealFlight until I've gotten my pj REALLY working - if not truly "finished". My son is coming of age for flight training!

You don't happen to have any video of using RealFlight do ya?

Hell yes! That's coming from a CRT person.

To the topic at hand, I've yet to encounter a single game that didn't benefit from being displayed on an 8-foot wall. I've played a lot of games -- Crysis, CoD4, UT3, Battlefield, Bioshock, GTA-SA (can't wait for IV), NFS-MW, Oblivion, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Flat-Out 2, Half-Life 2, Splinter Cell-CT, Quake 4, Doom 3, Far Cry, FEAR, and many, many more that escape me at the moment -- all at 1920x1200.

I've played some classics like the JohnF's DukeNukem 3D port (polygon-renderer), and a lot of emus for various consoles/arcade machines. Nestopia for NES, Fusion handles all my Sega, Project64 handles my N64, PCSX for PSX. Project64 and PCSX are cool in that you can actually render the game at native resolution, instead of the original 320x240. But the thing that really blew me away emulation-wise, was enabling video filtering in Nestopia. You're taking a 256x240 picture, vectorizing it, and blowing it up to 1920x1200. It literally looks like the game was designed to run at that resolution. All the blocks are gone! Playing a 20 year-old video game at that size and that resolution is amazing. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, take a look at this

oh sure - you just had to go and post this didnt you, now I'll never get any sleep

Hi D

Im using Realflight G3.5 too and it's fantastic on the PJ, compared to flying on a monitor it's allmost like real life.. especially when using TrackIR or the other solution my brother mentioned.

Video.. no, haven't got anything to record it with.

As for other games that are great on the PJ:
Company of Heroes, iv'e spent more than a few hours with this game
GTR
GTR-II
GT Legends

practically all simulators

Flight simming is almost the sole reason for building mine. So far I've been happy with every game I've fired up, from FPS, RTS Flight sims. I found everything is better on the big screen. I'm also one of those loonies building a full cockpit too.

i am only at 100" so it all good

137" 16:10 and let me tell you - composite video at this size is like watching the neighbors tv through your windows.

unfortunately no double ended vga/dvi/hdmi cable to connect the comp to it though. I "cob" it by Video out (composite rca dongle) and it looks like crap, however it works.

" I'm comping at the bit" to get a dvi-i to hdmi cable and realy see what she can do. edit I need 30 feet to connect the comp to the pj



well why not? Its a great idea. cant wait for your multi rp setup for a panoramic view

**** edit Oct 28, 2008 *******
dvi-i to hdmi @ 50 foot 1080p @ 24hz. Works beautifully

Maybe you could just blur your eyes and the big squares will blend haha. If that doesn't work look on ebay for a long enough cord id imagine you could find them on ebay for $30 or less for the length you need. come on man, you spent hundreds to get to the piont where your at (whats another couple for high def) Thats like running a Stang on a moped engine.

I've been playing Crysis on the projector, which is great fun. But after a while (around and hour) you have to stop, or you start getting very, very dizzy (mayby I hsould turn the motion blur down/off).

The difference?

look at this
Click to view attachment

If these are what they are supposed to be, it will be mine, oh yes it will be mine. No simulator needed. mwaahahah ahah AHAHAHAHAH!!!!

oh yeah, anyone play game cube on theirs? I'm thinking about picking one up for zelda / metroid.

Ya, all the time. Ity looks beatiful, and because of all the bright colors in Nintendo branded products. It is perfect for projection. In my house house the technical name for our wii is "the smash bros box." If you want another killer game, you had it right with zelda. "wind waker" looks way better on the projector though.