wide screen monitors for games

hi

whats the deal with wide screen monitors for games does it look any different etc thana normal flat pannel monitor

does it cut down the game screen or strech it?

It depends on the game. For instance, Bioshock's widescreen implementation cuts off about 20% of the top and bottom to make it "wider". TUnified

The same happens in Battlefield 2 & 2142, however I keep it at1680 x1050 and have got used to having all the large circles on the screen (map, scope etc) looking slightly oval.