As we were led down the main office hallway at Metabyte en route to their main SLI-demonstration room, we immediately froze when we came across a few of Metabyte's technical engineers running around firing railguns in Quake2.

Ordinarily this wouldn't distract us on our way to the real story we came to cover, but when we realized that the technician was utilizing three monitors simultaneously, we decided to uh….take a closer look.

Sure enough, we were informed that multi-monitor technology was an area that Metabyte is definitely exploring, and the fruit of their labor was this current Quake2 rig. Sporting full 3D imaging via Metabyte's proprietary 3D LCD glasses and EyeScream technology, along with a center positioned 19" monitor flanked by two other 19" monitors, this demonstration rig was an incredible testament to Metabyte's engineering prowess.

We sat down and played through the particular Quake2 level while it was explained to us that the machine was being powered by "three Wicked3D Voodoo2 boards" simultaneously. The 3D effect was incredibly vivid and engaging. The famous Quake2 "flies" that buzz about a dead body seemed to be genuinely in the room, and itself with the 3D/3-Monitor setup. Railguns left blue particle streams that seemed to float upward and out of the screen after being fired, you could drive a truck through their famous "tunnel" stream signatures. The enemies in the game all had physical shape/size, and looked like plastic action figures running around, ala the movie Small Soldiers.

It was amazing, much like a home "IMAX" theater or Disney's "Star Tours" virtual reality ride. In fact, Sharky Extreme's business manager almost revisited his breakfast that day as he tried out the system, too much time looking at our expense reports has no doubt made him "3D-sensitive"..…

As far as when we can hope to see the implementation of this type of technology, Metabyte was unclear. The hard part, the development of the technology itself, is almost complete. A hardware vendor, perhaps even Metabyte themselves through their Wicked3D Board Company division will pick up the ball and run with it. More likely though, Metabyte will license the technology to someone else, and you'll see a typical OEM product with the capability.

The eventual arrival of a system like this at home is certain, it's just a question of when and how much.