Gamer Glasses Claim to Make You a Better Player

SteelSeries claims its new eyewear can give people a “competitive advantage” when playing videogames.

We’ve all seen those commercials on late night television where thin, muscular people attempt to sell glasses that are said to make life appear in “HD.” While those glasses seem like a total scam, SteelSeries has teamed up with Gunnar Optiks to create something that sounds similar, made specifically for videogame players. I can’t say whether they work or not without having tried them, but anything’s possible.

The “SteelSeries Scope Pro Gaming Eyewear” is a new product “designed to improve visual efficiency, endurance, and recovery during gaming sessions,” according to a press release. Gunnar Optiks already has a line of eyewear it says “works with the properties of the human eye” to provide a “visual advantage,” and Scope is a new gamer’s version of that.

SteelSeries says Scope provides a “visually enhanced experience while minimizing eyestrain and fatigue,” and is another SteelSeries product that should help provide a “competitive advantage.” While SteelSeries doesn’t advertise Scope as a product that will automatically make you an amazing Halo: Reach player, it does say that Scope “enhances the details for sharper, clearer vision” while playing games.

Seeing is believing in regards to that claim, but the other advantage Scope is said to provide makes a little more immediate sense. Scope can supposedly reduce eye fatigue and eye strain due to lengthy play sessions. Sunglasses are known to do this by blocking the light of the sun, so I don’t see why this wouldn’t also be possible by the filtering of light from a videogame’s screen.

Scope eyewear is available in both prescription and non-prescription and is designed to fit snugly even while wearing a headset. It’s still unproven whether or not the glasses will help you kill more 12-year-olds in Modern Warfare 2, but a product that can reduce eye damage after playing a 14-hour World of Warcraft session sounds intriguing if it works. However, the SteelSeries Scope eyewear does cost a hefty $99.99, so it’s not an impulse buy for everyone.

Scope can be purchased from SteelSeries here.