Double vision and more...

Everyone knows what the DS in Nintendo DS stands for, and the dual screen functionality of the highly popular handheld console has certainly been put to both novel and innovative use. Some games would have the upper screen display the action while statistics are shown on the lower screen, while other games provide alternative viewpoints of the same action on each screen.

All very well for the DS, which got me thinking. A lot of modern graphics cards and notebooks support dual monitors. Why don't PC game makers put the dual screens to good use too?

For example:
1) Both screens could show a wide angle (albeit disjointed) view of the action.

Wide angle game action on dual monitors? Sweet...

2) One screen could show the action (e.g. FPS) while the other show the map or mission objectives.

FPS with real-time map on second monitor? Sweet...

3) One screen could show the action (e.g. RTS, RPG) while the other show the statistics or inventory.

MMORPG on dual monitors? Sweet...

Some games already support multi-display outputs, but I feel PC games should start to provide such an option to extend the PC gaming experience over console games. Yes you can probably have a less cluttered WoW display by manually moving the map and stat windows to the second screen, but developer support for that option would be so much nicer.

Hidden possibilities abound for the innovatice game developer ;)

(Disclaimer: All game screens shown here are mock-ups)