Jonathan Takiff: You've got game - all in 3-D

THE GIZMO: 3-D gaming - good for your health in small, medium and large portions.

THE BOMBSHELL DROPS: The announcement timing couldn't have been better from the American Optometric Association, what with Nintendo's first 3-D game system about to land, and the cases for 3-D gaming on PCs and the PlayStation 3 building in quality and quantity.

Contradicting earlier warnings (mostly from corporate legal departments) that children under 6 should avert their eyes from 3-D content, the eye-doc group now argues that 3-D presents no risk to children, though "sound judgment" should always be used in the length of exposure.

Furthermore, exposure to 3-D content might prove more helpful in spotting eyesight problems than, say, having a subject read letters and numbers off the 150-year-old Snellen eye chart, which has only a "27 percent sensitivity rating," AOA associate director of health sciences and policy Michael Duenas said recently.

So, today let's boldly celebrate all the good and healthy 3-D gaming now coming our way.

NINTENDO DOES IT RIGHT: Been holding out for a 3-D entertainment experience that doesn't require glasses? The Nintendo 3DS portable gaming system, on sale Sunday, answers those prayers.

Yes, you do have to hold its 3.5-inch "auto-stereoscopic" upper screen just so, 12 to 14 inches from your eyes. But the amazingly realistic depth effects and added clarity will enhance the play experience on new 3DS titles like "Madden NFL," the cartoony flying simulation of "Pilotwings Resorts," the fast and furious combat of "Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition," amusing battle worlds of "Lego Star Wars III" and heart-pumping auto racing of "Ridge Racer 3D."

Even when you dial down the device to 2-D, you'll be struck by the improved image resolution on new and older DS titles due to the 3DS' robust processing chips. They're even strong enough to support Wi-Fi wireless movie streaming from Netflix (coming later this year).

What else does your $249 investment bring?

Enhanced quasi-surround sound effects that play great tricks on ears and brain with the likes of "Ridge Racer." An added navigation tool, the Circle Pad. Motion and gyro sensors that react to game tilts and function as a pedometer to track your steps (take more!).

A social networking feature, Street Pass, for passively exchanging game information and your "Mii" personal profile. Spot Pass to connect to compatible public hot spots (AT&T is a partner).

Twin camera lenses on the game system's outer lid and another shooter inside capture soft-focused 3-D snapshots (best in brightly lit situations) and put your floating face (and others') into the way-fun "augmented reality" game "Face Raiders" that's built into the system.

Open other casual AR games by focusing the lenses on special cards. (Or, soon, billboard images and magazine pages?)

There's a modest sound-grabbing and collage-making program onboard and an SD card/slot for faster game data storage. Also coming, a hookup to a Nintendo site with free 3-D movie and game previews.

All this adds up to a device more expensive (by at least $80) than previous Nintendo portables, and more power-hungry. With everything cranked to max, you can count on about only three hours of play before recharging the battery.

A new slide-on docking station (included) eases that process. There's sure to be a big aftermarket in backup battery packs.

BRAWNY BRAWN: I thought it would be funny to picture the new Nintendo next to another new 3-D portable game system I've been testing, the ASUS Republic of Gaming G73SW-A1 "ultimate gaming laptop" computer.

But the 3DS would have virtually disappeared next to this monster (in a good way) machine.

The weighty (7.9 pounds) ASUS boasts a supersharp, 3-D- ready, 17-inch full HD 1080p screen running at 120 Hz. This Windows 7 machine gets its mojo from NVIDIA's powerhouse GeForce GTX 460M graphics processing engine (working in concert with a massive 1.5 GB of GDDR5 memory) and struts its 3-D stuff through companion wireless LCD shutter glasses (triggered and recharged by the laptop) that are as comfortable as any I've tried.

Also crucial to the secret sauce is NVIDIA's 3D Vision Game Support and 3D TV Play software. The former unlocks the 3-D heart now ticking in more than 550 (!!!) PC games - everything from the war-is-a-blast "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and crawling-with-zombies "Left For Dead 2" to the charming chase of "Toy Story 3." (Find a full list of supported games, with ratings for stereoscopic performance quality, at NVIDIA.com.)

Meanwhile, the 3D TV Play software (preinstalled on this laptop and available with NVIDIA 3D upgrade kits for beefier desktops) also allows users to view 3-D Blu-ray movies (using the built-in drive) and still photos from compatible (Fujifilm and Sony) cameras. Enjoy 3-D shorts and occasional sports specials streaming from an NVIDIA site.

Maybe best of all, you can connect this computer (via HDMI 1.4 cable) to a compatible 3D-ready TV to really expand the "World of Warcraft" and fulfill your "Need for Speed" - or dive into movie fantasies like "Resident Evil Afterlife," "Despicable Me," "Tangled" (out Tuesday) and the coming "Tron: Legacy."

I made the leap from the 17-inch ASUS to a 50-inch Panasonic plasma - still tops among the 3D TV crop - and was extremely glad I did. While I knew the movies would hold up, those PC games also blew up real good.

And if you snake that HDMI connector cable through a compatible a/v receiver first, you can extract lossless DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound signals (up to 7.1 channels) from all those aforementioned games and flicks.

Here's the bad news: All this comes at a steep price: about $1,750 for the ASUS laptop (though not all that much to a dedicated PC gamer). And until NVIDIA automates the process (promised "soon"), owners must remember to periodically update their laptop's software as 3-D support for new games is added.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S LESS: Dell has newly introduced the XPS 17, another 17-inch-screen, 3D-ready laptop, for a mere $899. Cosmetics on that Windows 7 machine aren't as nice as on the ASUS, but the same NVIDIA chips and software drive the XPS 17 to the same destinations.

PS3 UPDATE: I've written before about how cool it is that every Sony PlayStation 3 game system is firmware-upgradable to show high-definition 3-D Blu-ray movies and video games when connected to a compatible 3-D TV.

Just wanted to point out that the available 3-D game assortment for this now-$299 system keeps growing. The library recently hit 20 titles with the larger-than-life (and "Move Sharp Shooter"-enabled) "BattleZone 3."

And more than 50 PS3 3-D games are coming, including the just-out "Crysis 2," the highly anticipated "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" and "MotorStorm Apocalypse."

Send email to takiffj@phillynews.com.