[quote]Here's what I understood while reading various sites (I'm new to all this):
1) You will "see less on the sides" in 16:10 (compared to 16:9) only if the game is Hor+. And both 16:10 and 16:9 will show the same vertically.
2) However if the game is Ver-, both 16:10 and 16:9 will show the same on the sides (horizontally), but 16:10 will show more vertically than 16:9.
In the event that 1) and 2) are right (everyone's more than welcome to correct me), and that I'm interested in buying a 16:10 monitor, here's my original question: Can some games be switched/hacked/edited to go from Hor+ to Ver- ?
I suppose that for such a switch to occur, the game has to already know (encoded by the programmers) how much to show horizontally in Ver-. Or that such a "value" can be assigned by the user.
Scav responded well, but just as a side bit... it's often about how the game was designed. If a game was designed for 4:3 then having a 16:10 monitor and Hor+ means you see MORE on the sides, which is cool. A lot of people bought widescreen monitors to see more, so they focus on this. If you have 16:9 then you see even more than 16:10, as your monitor is even wider.
If a game was designed around 16:9 though, as most games are now, and it has Hor+ behavior then technically by having a 16:10 monitor means you are losing information, same with 4:3. Vert- is actually better for 16:10 on these newer titles because in a sense you are getting "Vert+" instead of "Hor-" when you use 16:10.
The grading policies of the WSGF are entirely focused on seeing more information on the sides the wider you go which, in today's "designed around 16:9" environment, is not always right for 16:10. Don't bother debating this with anyone in charge though, no one cares.