Every four years, the eyes of the world tune in to see soccer at its finest in a truly global tournament, the FIFA World Cup. This year, some of those eyes can tune in to see it in 3D, with the much-anticipated kickoff of ESPN’s latest network, ESPN 3D.

It coincides with this morning’s match between host country South Africa and Mexico. The channel is offered free to DirecTV subscribers, who unfortunately seemed to face a vicious reboot situation earlier this week as the firmware upgrade for 3D threw some things temporarily out of whack. AT&T U-verse subscribers can also bask in 3D soccer.

So, how many of you will be watching soccer’s brightest stage in technology’s buzziest format?

If you went to ESPN.com this morning—less than two hours before the ball dropped between South Africa and Mexico—you’d never know that it was being broadcast in 3D. It promotes “On ESPN, ESPN3.com and ESPN Radio,” plus a slew of other preview stories and columns. But not a peep about ESPN 3D.

Does that make this more of a “soft launch” because it’s such a small percentage of viewers who can take advantage of the technology right now? If you are tuning in, tell us how it looks in the comments section below—are there good angles to effectively use 3D; does it make the back-and-forth action harder or easier to follow; does it make it more engaging?

Arlen Schweiger - Editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen writes about home technology installations and product news and reviews for electronichouse.com and Electronic House magazine.