Greetings,
I have to start out with, this is not a good projector for hardcore gamers...period. The lag was almost unbearable at times during online play. It was OK on offline play, but still not acceptable in my book if you are a competitive gamer. I loved this projector in all other aspects, but online gaming is its weakest link when playing FPS and fighting games. The lag test results are posted
here. If you are looking for a projector with great color, brightness, shadow detail, that has 3D, wireless HDMI, but only plan to casually game on it...then this projector perfectly acceptable. If gaming is your first priority, then you may want to consider a DLP projector instead.
I am a fairly good Street Fighter IV player, and the lag definitely did me in. Here are a few pictures from the games I played, sorry if they are a bit crooked. I will work on my photography skills in the future...ha ha. The games looked beautiful needless to say, especially SFIV. I was lost in it's beauty...that is until I actually started playing.
I also watched Titanic 3D and The Avengers 3D. 3D doesn't really translate into a photograph very well, but here are a couple of pictures anyway. I'll be the first to admit, 3D isn't my cup of tea, but it performed very well in producing a nice, crisp 3D image. You can read specifics about 3D, brightness, black level, skin tones, etc., in Art's review linked
here.
The 3020e is very bright, and the built in speakers came in handy in the surround sound-less room I had to use to review it. The speakers are better than any of the other projectors with built in speakers I have reviewed, but don't expect 5.1 Dolby surround. They are adequate, and I would even go as far as calling them good, but not great. I had to keep it ghetto and use a blackout cloth to test this one, I figured it was better than projecting onto an off white wall. Most of us gamers aren't made of money, so the odds are we'd be playing on a wall, or on a DIY screen of some sort anyway. Even with the lack of a "proper screen", it still looked amazing.
This projector would work for me, because I normally game on a PC monitor, or on a TV in my bedroom. I typically use my projector for movies, television, and some Wii gaming when we have friends over. If you plan on doing all of your PC, and console gaming on a projector, then I would check out a DLP projector first. If your second priority is gaming, I would not hesitate in recommending the 3020e to you. The good definitely outweighs the bad when it comes to the 3020e, just not in the gaming department.
-Ebenezer
The Good:
Very bright
Great color
Great shadow detail
Love the Epson remotes
Decent built in speakers
3D (if it is something you care about)
Wireless HDMI (a feature I did not have the opportunity to try, but Pete says it works great in his
5020e review)
Great warranty (2 years)
The Bad:
Not very portable for gamers on the go
Black level is good, but not great
No lens shift
Lacks CFI feature (not too big of a deal in my book)
The Ugly:
LAG
LAG
MAJOR LAG
