A US company has just launched the first widescreen monitor that will allow gamers to blast their way through their favourite games in 3D.

The 22in 220 widescreen 3D monitor, from San Diego-based Neurok Optics, uses stereoscopic 3D technology combined with polarised eyeglasses to brings things in to 3D.

The monitor, which is retailing for around £500, can also be used as a traditional 2-D monitor at the touch of a button with the company claiming it supports commercial-grade levels of brightness and image quality. The display boasts a 5ms response time, a resolution of 1,680x1,050 pixels, contrast ratio of 800:1 and a brightness rating of 250 nits.

“More content is being produced in 3D,” said Thomas Striegler, CEO of Neurok Optics, LLC. “All popular games and many new movies are now created in 3-D - most viewers are unable to see the game or movie as it is meant to be seen in 3D. Now you can add a new dimension to your home video entertainment with our 3D monitor.”

Each monitor comes with a choice of “fashionable” and lightweight polarised glasses which the company assured will not result in some of the traditional drawbacks to 3D glasses, like eyestrain, spatial disorientation and headaches.

The monitor comes with the first S-3D drivers to be compatible with both the Nvidia Geforce 8 Series and the ATI’s FireGL V3600 workstation graphics accelerators.

Hundreds of gamers will get to test the monitors first-hand from tomorrow at the Cyberathlete Professional League Championships on Los Angeles. You can find more information on the monitor here.